


The Company Ink

by Miss_Six



Series: Gadbois Tech International [1]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M, desk job au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-04-24 02:49:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14346417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Six/pseuds/Miss_Six
Summary: She has to hand it to Kaitlyn, he is pretty cute. Dark hair, nice eyes, clean cut…“You could cut glass with that jawline,” Kaitlyn whispers to her.“I know, right?” Tessa whispers back, watching him look around the room and introduce himself to Chiddy and Annette. He catches her eye, and before she can look away he’s given her a little wave of acknowledgment and a genuine smile, and Tessa feels her heart drop.[or]The tech company AU that literally no one asked for.





	1. November

**Author's Note:**

> Look. I'm still kinda mad that I'm writing RPF at all, but here we are. Thanks for reading! FYI: I will always be happy with pity kudos and comments.

**The New Guy**

The air has a chilly bite to it as Tessa speedwalks down 16th, and it passes right through the thin material of her tights, raising goosebumps on her legs as she hurries to the Starbucks next to her building. It’s only November, but she curses herself for not checking the weather before she left for work - it’s been a year and a half and she still hasn’t gotten used to Colorado extremes.

 _Yesterday it was nice and warm, and now this bullshit,_ she thinks as she gets in line and checks her phone. Ten til nine, she’s late but still has plenty of time before standup. _I left Canada to get away from the cold._

At 8:59 exactly Tessa walks into the conference room with coffee and muffin in hand. There’s no good chairs left, so she pulls one of the crappy ones over to sit next to Kaitlyn. It gives a loud squeak of protest as soon as she settles into it, but she’s sleepy and hungry and they’re only going to be in there for fifteen minutes so she doesn’t bother swapping it out for another one.

Kaitlyn leans over conspiratorially. “New guy’s here, he’s _really_ cute.”

Tessa leans forward to pick up her muffin. Another squeak from the chair. “You told me that last week after you facebook stalked him.”

“Well, yeah, but he’s cuter in person.” Right on cue, their project manager Doug strolls into the room with what has to be the new guy in tow.

She has to hand it to Kaitlyn, he is pretty cute. Dark hair, nice eyes, clean cut…

“You could cut glass with that jawline,” Kaitlyn whispers to her.

“I know, right?” Tessa whispers back, watching him look around the room and introduce himself to Chiddy and Annette. He catches her eye, and before she can look away he’s given her a little wave of acknowledgment and a genuine smile, and Tessa feels her heart drop.

_Oh. Oh no._

Tessa swallows her bite of muffin and gives him a little wave back and a small smile as Kaitlyn murmurs “Don’t choke, girl.”

Chiddy finishes pulling the task board up on the projector, and one by one her teammates give their updates while Tessa tries not to let her chair squeak too much. Finally she determines that if she props her foot against the leg of the conference table, she can keep it tilted in the Zone of Minimal Noise Output.

“Thanks, Kaitlyn. Tessa?” Both Doug and New Guy look at her, and Tessa tries desperately to keep a neutral expression.

“Yesterday I finished TRP-71, I’m waiting for a code review. TRP-73 is what I’m working on today, and we still need image assets for TRP-52 before we can close it.” She manages to keep her voice even as she gives her updates. “Do we have signoff on the design?”

“Yep, got that email this morning. Kaitlyn, can you get Tessa those image assets by tomorrow?” Doug and New Guy are looking at Kaitlyn now, and Kaitlyn says “sure thing” and Tessa is still not looking directly at New Guy or thinking about a different type of assets altogether. She’s _not._

“Okay, everyone, before you take off I want to introduce Scott Moir. He’s our new project manager, from the Toronto office.” _Oh, another transplant._ “Scott, why don’t you tell us a little something about yourself?”

He’s a little flustered, and it’s more adorable than Tessa would like to admit to herself. “Ah, yeah...so I’m Scott, obviously, and I’ve been a project manager for four years, and a PM for this company for...a little over a year.” _I must have just missed him in Toronto._ “In my free time, I’m either playing hockey, watching hockey or drinking beer and probably talking about hockey.”

“But who’s your favorite team?” Chiddy asks, ready to rag on him if he says anything besides-

“Oh, the Leafs. Of course.” There’s that smile again. _Get it together, Tessa._

“Okay, Doug, we’ll keep him,” Chiddy cracks. Tessa reaches forward to pick up her muffin, and her foot slips off the table leg and she rocks forward as her chair emits a long, loud, high pitched squeal that probably stops traffic outside.

Everyone turns to look at her as she comes to a wide-eyed stop, crumbs still clinging to her lip from the giant bite of muffin she’s just taken, and then everyone bursts into laughter.

Tessa is laughing herself, because there is no universe in which that is not funny, but she’s also wiping the crumbs from her mouth as quickly as possible and trying not to choke on her muffin, and her eyes are watering and _damnit, my eyeliner was so good today._ Kaitlyn hands Tessa her coffee to help wash down the muffin and pats her on the back a few times.

The floor, to Tessa’s disappointment, does not open up and swallow her. She throws back the rest of her coffee and slams the cup on the table like she’s playing a drinking game, and everyone cheers. Even Scott is clapping, when she dares to look.

“All right, guys, all right,” Doug says above the fading laughter. “One more thing before you go.” Everyone groans and drops back into the chairs they were just getting out of. “Since we have Scott in the Denver office, the powers that be have decided I’m going to roll off this project, and he’ll be taking over for me.”

 _Oh_ **_NO_ ** _._

Doug turns to Scott. “Tessa’s the lead developer for this team, when she’s not almost choking on her breakfast. Tessa, do you have time to demo the latest build for Scott today?”

“Oh, absolutely,” she says. “I’ll make time.”

 

 **K.Weaver:** so how was your lunch date?

 **T.Virtue:** Sandwiches in the conference room while I demo the build is not a lunch date.

 **K.Weaver:** are you sure? because you don’t smile like that after every demo

 **T.Virtue:** It was just a really good meeting! I think Scott’s going to work well with the team.

 **K.Weaver:** i think scott’s going to work well with you

 **T.Virtue:** What is that supposed to mean?

 **K.Weaver:** gotta go, design team meeting!

 **T.Virtue:** KAITLYN

**_K.Weaver is busy and may not see your messages right away_ **

 

_git commit -m “TRP-112 bugfix for inconsistent date formats so Annette can finish testing TRP-88, if anyone breaks this again they owe me a drink.”_

Tessa rests her head in her hands for just a moment as her command runs, breathing a sigh of relief that the day is over. She’s no stranger to physical exhaustion, but mental fatigue is a whole other beast, and right now the only thing she wants to do is pick up takeout and watch Netflix until her brains leak out her ears.

The office is virtually empty, so when she takes off her headphones and hears movement behind her she almost jumps out of her skin. She turns to see Scott is still at his desk behind her, thumbing through a binder of printouts with a spreadsheet open on his monitor. “So good you can’t put it down, right?”

Scott swivels around in his chair with a grin. “Oh, Technical Requirements for TRP API version 3 is a classic! Right up there with Crime and Punishment, and the instructions for installing a Facebook ‘Share’ button.”

Tessa laughs. “Just wait until we get the documentation for the payment gateway. It’ll make Crime and Punishment seem like light bedtime reading,” she says, picking up her laptop bag and purse. “How was your first day here?”

“Good! I mean...it’s a lot different,” Scott says, looking over at the array of Nerf guns on the unoccupied desk next to him. “The interdepartmental wars in Toronto used more passive-aggressive emails than foam darts. Definitely prefer the darts, though.”

“Yeah, I remember that. Things are a little more relaxed out here.”

His eyes light up. “You’re from Toronto?”

“I only moved out here a year and a half ago, is my accent gone already?” she jokes, pretending her heart rate hasn’t just increased significantly.

“I thought I was picking that up earlier, but you were using your demo voice, so I wasn’t sure,” Scott admits, and Tessa makes a face.

“What? I don’t have a demo voice,” she insists.

“Oh, everyone who does demos has one! It’s not a bad thing, you just-” he sits up straight in his chair- “you correct your posture, and your voice gets a little deeper,” he says, lowering the pitch of his voice, “and you o-ver-e-NUN-ciate all the words while trying to sound VERY professional.” She’s in a fit of laughter, and Scott smiles and shrugs. “It’s not a big deal, you have a nice demo voice.”

Tessa clears her throat and suddenly needs to adjust her bags in a way that, she hopes, conceals the heat rising in her cheeks. “Um. Thanks. Uh, I’ve really got to get home, but I’ll see you tomorrow, ok?”

“Sure,” he says, and he might look a little crestfallen but Tessa might just be seeing things. “See you tomorrow.”

As she rounds the corner she glances over her shoulder just in time to catch Scott’s gaze snap back down into the binder he’s holding.

 

**The Happy Hour**

Scott has been in the Denver office for one week, three days, and seven hours, and Tessa has been painfully aware of every minute. Mostly because he’s been at her desk for at least 75% of them.

It’s always work related, he’s trying to catch up on six months of work that’s already been completed and decisions that were already made. It’s not like she’s mad about it, she’s the most logical person for him to come to and she’s happy to help. He’s her teammate and it’s her job. She just wishes he wasn’t so friendly and interesting and _likeable._

And that Kaitlyn would stop walking by and giving her a Look whenever he’s sitting next to her.

And that he would stop wearing henleys with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. It’s distracting.

He’s at her desk again, and they’re hunting through emails to find the thread about the signup form when Chiddy stands up two desks down. “I gotta get out of here or I’m gonna lose it. Who’s in for happy hour?” He turns around to look for support. “Scott?”

“Sure, man.” Scott turns to Tessa. “Happy hour? We can figure this out tomorrow.”

“I’m gonna pass.” Groans erupt around her, and she rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I really want to go through everything we’ve done before the demo tomorrow.”

“Come ooooon, Tessa,” Kaitlyn pleads. “Demo’s not until 11, you’ll have plenty of time! We need to do some team building.”

“Right, team building,” Chiddy chimes in. “And if you come, and it’s team building, we can pay the tab with your company card!”

“Oh, _that’s_ why you guys want me there,” she laughs, but then she looks over at Scott, and he hasn’t said a word but his eyes look just a little hopeful and Tessa feels her resolve crumble. She closes her eyes. “Okay. Fine.” The entire team cheers, including Scott. “But we’re not doing what we did last time!”

Everyone gathers their things and migrates towards the elevators, and Tessa takes her time packing up. She turns around to see that Scott is hanging back a bit to wait for her. “So what happened last time?”

“Oh, just...we were out too late and drank too much and nobody came in until at least 10 the next morning, except Chiddy and Andrew, because they came upstairs and passed out on the couches in the reception area,” she tells him, and his eyebrows shoot up.

“And Tessa sang karaoke, and it wasn’t a karaoke bar,” Kaitlyn says from behind them, and Tessa makes a mental note to never do anything in front of Kaitlyn ever again. Or speak to her. “C’mon, guys, let’s go make some bad decisions!”

The bar downstairs is full of the usual crowd, and they congregate at one end and drag stools around for everyone. “What are you drinking?” Scott asks her. “It’s on me.” She shakes her head, but he persists. “It’s the least I can do, I wouldn’t know what the hell I was doing without you.”

“A glass of wine, just the house white?” A burst of laughter from the rest of the group grabs her attention, and when she looks over Kaitlyn catches her gaze and winks, then turns back to the lively conversation already happening before Tessa can give her the evil eye.

“One white wine,” Scott says, handing her a glass and holding his own glass of beer up. “To the woman who’s been saving my ass for the last two weeks.”

“In that case,” Tessa says, “to the man who’s crammed half a year’s worth of this project into his head in the last two weeks.” They toast, and then Andrew is asking Scott what leagues he played with in Toronto, Annette is telling stories about the hockey bro she dated last year and they drift into similar but separate circles of conversation while standing right next to each other.

Two hours and three glasses of wine later Tessa’s not drunk, but she is feeling rather giddy, which is her cue to send herself home for the night. Scott is still standing next to her - everyone’s rearranged throughout the evening, but somehow they keep gravitating towards each other. She’s trying to pick up her things inconspicuously but the strap on her laptop bag twists and it bumps Scott’s leg hard enough for him to notice.

“You taking off?” he asks, which sets off a chorus of “awwww”s from the larger group.

“Yeah, I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she says, trying to leave before she can get sucked back for _one more drink, c’mon, Tessa_ but she notices that Scott is asking for his tab and picking up his messenger bag.

“I need to head out too, can I walk with you?” he asks, and Tessa is so nonplussed all she can do is nod. Is he trying to be a gentleman? Is he trying to get her alone? She has so many questions, and she can’t ask any of them with the whole team staring at her. Instead, she stands perfectly still, and looks everywhere except at Kaitlyn who, Tessa’s sure, is frantically trying to get her attention.

Scott finishes signing his tab by the time she’s finally processed what’s going on, and it’s too late to shoot him down so she and Scott wave goodbye to everyone and walk out into the chilly night air. “Which way are you headed?” he asks. “Do you take the train?”

“No, I’m at 18th and Arapahoe.”

He looks left and then right. “I..have no idea which way that is,” he says with a sheepish grin.

“Go right.” She starts walking, and he falls in step next to her. “You don’t have to walk me home, Denver’s a really safe city.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that you can take care of yourself.” He laughs. Tessa likes his laugh. “If anything, I’m counting on you to protect me if shit goes down.”

“My hero,” she giggles. “So are you just going to follow me to my place? Where are you headed?”

“Same direction as you,” he says, and for a panicked moment Tessa wonders if she’s about to find out they live in the same building. “17th and Larimer, so you’re kind of on the way.” Tessa breathes a sigh of relief, and they walk in silence for another block. “Sorry, I didn’t know you lived downtown. I don’t have to walk you to your building, if that makes you uncomfortable.”

His expression is so sincere it hurts. “No, it’s fine. I just haven’t had anyone offer to walk me home in-” she thinks about it- “-ever, actually.”

“What? Seriously?” He crinkles his brow in adorable disbelief. _Is he even capable of making an unattractive face?_

“Well, I mean, I’ve been driven home before, but yeah. It threw me off a little.” He’s keeping pace with her, which is impressive. Her getting-through-the-city walk is a fast clip that usually outpaces everyone when they go out to lunch. “I appreciate the gesture, though.”

“Yeah, no problem.” They spend the last few blocks comparing opinions of the Toronto office and staff, and when they get to her building Tessa is a little sad that they have to end the conversation.

“This is my stop,” she says, and there’s an awkward _pause_ where Tessa wonders if a hug would be completely inappropriate.

Scott seems to be wondering the same thing, but he takes a step backwards and nods. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says. “Hope I don’t get mugged walking a whole block and a half to my place.”

“Just yell and I’ll come save you,” Tessa says, and feels disproportionately proud that her stupid joke makes him laugh. “See you.”

She makes it all the way upstairs to her apartment and drops her things before she picks up a throw pillow and screams into it as loud as she can.

 

**The Opening Shots**

It’s 9:45 on a Wednesday morning, and Tessa is already 300% done with the day. She’s already been double booked for meetings twice, received three snide emails from various stakeholders, and is no closer to finishing her current task than she was yesterday morning.

Scott, at least, is in her corner - he told her to CC him on her replies to the emails, and he’d take it from there. He also told her to block off the rest of her morning on her calendar so she can focus on writing code. He is, in short, a godsend.

She’s staring at the function she’s written that should work but isn’t, and questioning her career choices, when a chat notification pops up. It’s Scott, and that shouldn’t surprise her but it does; he sits almost directly behind her, so he’s more likely to turn around and ask her a question out loud than send her a message about it.

 

 **S.Moir:** you look like you could use some ridiculous 80s music

 **S.Moir:** <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=657TZDHZqj4>

 

She looks over her shoulder at him, but he doesn’t turn around. After briefly wondering if she’s being rickrolled, she clicks on the link and the sound of electric guitars mimicking bagpipes fills her headphones. He’s right. This is some ridiculous 80s music.

When given a gift, Tessa likes to make a similar gesture, so she takes a break from her misbehaving function to peruse YouTube. It takes her a moment to pick out something of comparable quality, but a quick search and she’s got it.

 

 **T.Virtue:** Thanks for that! I like Pat Benatar myself:

 **T.Virtue:** <https://youtu.be/qxZInIyOBXk>

 

There’s no music playing through her headphones, so she hears him chuckle behind her.

 

 **S.Moir:** now that is a classic. excellent choice.

 **S.Moir:** don’t worry about the haters. I’ve got your back.

 

She looks over at him again, and this time he turns and smiles at her. She smiles back, and something in her stomach flutters to life, and her whole mood flips on a dime.

_I am in so much trouble._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does this seem weirdly specific? I may or may not be drawing on personal experience for this one.
> 
> Yell at me on tumblr, @beautimous.


	2. December

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tessa doesn’t have many regrets in her life. Right now she can think of only three: Dating her boss, sitting through a Saw movie marathon, and letting Kaitlyn talk her into buying that dress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent more time researching beer than anything else for this chapter.

**The Lunch**

It’s 11:58, this meeting was only supposed to run until 11:30, and Tessa skipped breakfast for a few extra minutes of sleep so she sailed past hungry some time ago and is fast approaching Hangry. Whoever is on the phone in Toronto is having a side conversation that isn’t relevant to the user matrix they’re supposed to be discussing, but they’re more important than either her or the three other people in the conference room with her, so here they sit, waiting for the call to end. Or the sweet release of death. Whichever comes first.

“Okay, we’re getting kicked out of the conference room,” Scott lies, because he’s a good project manager and can smell the revolt that’s going to happen if they don’t wrap it up. “Are there any other questions?”

“No, I think that about does it,” the voice on the phone says. (Marta? Marina? Tessa really should know this, but she no longer cares. She’s the only thing standing between Tessa and food.) “Thank you!”

“Thank you, Marina,” Scott says, and ends the call. The entire room breathes a sigh of relief.

Tessa gathers up her notebook and laptop and books it out of the conference room like her hair’s on fire. On her way to her desk she looks around to see if anyone is still around, but the floor is almost vacant.

“I’m so sorry, guys,” Scott says from behind her. “That call got away from me.”

“It got away from all of us,” Tessa says. “I can’t believe we went from having two questions to having to redo all the requirements.”

They’re the only ones actually involved in that exchange. Manny is heading back to where the rest of the analysts sit, and Annette is going mach 5 towards the kitchen. That means she brought her lunch, and that means…

“You want to grab some lunch?”

Tessa freezes at Scott’s question. Yes, she absolutely wants to grab some lunch, and she’d love to have lunch with him, but it’s just the two of them. This feels like a lunch date but it’s not a lunch date, is it appropriate for her to have lunch with her project manager? She used to eat lunch with Doug, but Doug is not Scott. Doug doesn’t have warm hazel eyes that make her feel like she’s seen and understood and-

“Tessa?” Scott says, and she realizes she’s just been standing there while her brain kicked into overdrive. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes,” she says with such vehemence that he actually takes a small step backwards. “Let’s go before my stomach eats itself.”

Fifteen minutes later they’re sitting at a table at Grimaldi’s trying to decide how to split a pizza. “What about anchovies and pineapple?” Scott jokes, which earns him a dirty look. “Yikes. Sorry. I’ll stop messing around.”

They manage to settle on a couple of toppings (grilled chicken and spinach, and they agree that spinach on a pizza totally makes it healthy), and Tessa unrolls her napkin and puts it in her lap, where she can fiddle with the edge under the table. She’s been to this place a number of times with a group, but now that it’s just her and Scott, she’s realizing the decor is decidedly cozy and romantic.

“You want to get a glass of wine with lunch? I won’t tell if you won’t,” Scott says, and she shakes her head no, but picks up the drink menu.

“I really shouldn’t,” she says, “but I think I'm going to.”

“You earned it,” Scott says, just as their server arrives. They sit through his spiel about the specials, and then Scott gives their order. “And she's getting a glass of wine.”

“Yeah, can I get a glass of the Barefoot chardonnay?” She looks back at Scott. “If I’m getting wine you have to get something.”

“Ah, shit, I didn’t even look at the beer list.” He stares at it for a minute. “I guess...surprise me? Something light?”

Their server laughs. “No problem. She’s a keeper,” he says to Scott, and Tessa opens her mouth to protest but he’s already gone.

“That drives me insane,” she seethes. “I can’t go out to lunch with any of my male coworkers without people assuming we’re together. Like there’s no way it could just be a professional relationship.”

“I can see how that would get under your skin,” Scott says. “If you don’t mind me saying so, though, female devs are still pretty rare.”

“That’s true, but it shouldn’t be completely unexpected,” Tessa replies. “Besides, men and women can work together and have platonic friendships.”

Scott looks like he wants to say something, but their drinks arrive and he’s distracted by the slice of orange on the rim of his glass. “There’s fruit in my beer.”

“It’s a Blue Moon, they’re served with an orange slice,” Tessa says. “You’ve never seen that?”

“I actually haven’t,” he admits. “I guess I should branch out a little.”

Tessa takes a sip of her wine and toys with the edge of her napkin. “Anyway...I’m just really sensitive about getting mistaken for someone’s girlfriend because it happens to me a lot. Because I do work with mostly men.”

“That would drive me crazy, too,” Scott says, discarding the orange slice from his beer and taking a small taste of it. “You’re only the second or third woman dev I’ve ever worked with, and the first lead. How did you get into programming?”

“My parents were both engineers, so math was a big deal in my family,” Tessa explains. “I started learning Python just for fun when I was barely a teenager, and I was hooked as soon as I got my first ‘Hello, World’ program to run.”

“So this is what you’ve always wanted to do,” he says, sounding impressed, and she nods.

“Well, I mean….I had other dreams, but this is the one that stuck with me,” she clarifies. “What about you? How’d you get into herding cats?”

He chuckles. “It wasn’t a lifelong dream of mine, I’m just some guy with a communications major who thought tech sounded like a cool field to be in.”

“Still, you’re really good at it,” Tessa protests. “I’ve worked with some truly terrible project managers. I don’t understand how anyone could take a job with the word ‘manager’ in the title when they hate people.”

“I’m not gonna lie, there are days where I wonder why I ever picked a career that involves dealing with some of the most antisocial people there are,” Scott says, and she laughs. “Everyone here is really great, though. You have a good team.”

“ _We_ have a good team,” Tessa corrects him. “You’re part of it, remember?” Their pizza arrives, and they rearrange the table to accommodate the pan.

“I’ve only been here for a month, but thank you,” Scott says as he pulls a slice of pizza onto his plate. “This looks amazing.”

Half an hour and a minor disagreement later (Scott insisted on paying for lunch, since “It was my fault we were late and had to scramble,” and Tessa refused to let it go until he told her she could buy him lunch the next time she missed a deadline) they’re walking back into the office, and everyone turns around to look at them like they’re sixteen and missed curfew.

“There you guys are!” Chiddy exclaims. “We got back from lunch and nobody knew where you went!”

“That’s because you jerks took off without us,” Scott replies. “We’ll leave a note next time.”

“You better,” Andrew pipes up. “Or you’re both getting grounded.”

“You’re not my real dad,” Scott and Tessa say at the same time, and all Tessa can do is match his goofy grin as half the office dissolves into laughter.

 

**The Christmas Party**

Tessa doesn’t have many regrets in her life. Right now she can think of only three: Dating her boss, sitting through a _Saw_ movie marathon, and letting Kaitlyn talk her into buying that dress.

Currently _that dress_ is hanging on the back of her bedroom door while she and Kaitlyn get ready for the annual company Christmas party. It’s royal blue lace, it’s very tight, and it’s very backless.

“It’s not very Christmasy,” Tessa says, fully intending to say _so I’m going to wear something else_ but Kaitlyn shoots her down immediately.

“Tessa, you look amazing in that dress. You said yourself you wanted to try something different.” She did say that. Add it to the list of regrets.

“It’s just...it’s too sexy for a work party. And I’ll be freezing.” Her curling iron has finally finished heating up, so she squishes in next to Kaitlyn at the bathroom mirror and starts on her hair.

“It’s got long sleeves, a high neckline and the skirt goes down to your knees. And we’re not going to be outside.” Kaitlyn pauses her mascara application to side eye Tessa. “Are you worried about what Scott is going to think?”

“No! Why would you ask me that?” Tessa is very glad that curling her hair gives her a reason not to make eye contact. She’s not _that_ worried about what Scott will think. Actually, she has a pretty good idea, and that’s what worries her. “I just don’t want that sticky bra thing to get un-sticky in the middle of the evening.”

“Everyone will be hammered by then, you can just throw it out and no one will even notice.”

Tessa sighs. “I’m not going to win this, am I?”

Kaitlyn gives her a beautific smile. “Nope. Go put on the dress.”

Tessa does put on the dress, and the sticky bra thing. She puts her hair up in a side chignon, finishes her makeup, and by then Kaitlyn has ordered a Lyft and they run out the door clutching their gifts for the White Elephant gift exchange.

This year they’ve got the front room at Punch Bowl Social, and the party is already in full swing when they arrive. They leave their things at a table, and Kaitlyn is off in search of someone who can provide her with drinks before Tessa can finish saying “vodka soda”.

“Tessa!” Annette is weaving through people towards her, with her boyfriend close behind. “You’ve met Chris, right?”

“Yes, he came to bowling night, right?” Tessa asks as she hugs Annette. “Nice to see you again, Chris.”

“You look fantastic,” Annette tells her. “I love your dress.”

“This is Kaitlyn’s doing,” Tessa confesses, and Annette laughs.

“Well, she did a good job. Have you seen Scott yet? I think he's over playing darts with Andrew.”

Tessa looks over at the dart boards, and Scott is in fact there, but he’s now walking towards them with Kaitlyn, who has managed to procure some drinks. _Thank god._

“Here you go, Tessa,” Kaitlyn says, handing her a glass. “Look who’s here!”

Scott smiles at her and leans in to hug her gingerly. One of his hands touches her bare back, and he quickly shifts it over to a fabric-covered part of her side. “Glad you made it!”

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t be the only one without a hangover tomorrow,” she says. “Speaking of which, is it an open bar again?”

“Of course it is,” Annette says. “And you didn’t hear it from me, but there’s no upper limit tonight.”

Tessa groans inwardly. “Have we not learned from our past mistakes?”

“I wouldn’t call them mistakes,” Chiddy says from behind Scott. “They were...bonding experiences.” He joins the circle with his girlfriend Emily.

“Exactly!” Kaitlyn says. “A good team is made of teammates who all have too much dirt on each other to say anything.”

Scott looks mildly bewildered at the conversation happening around him. “This place is so different from Toronto.”

“Just wait until the gift exchange,” Tessa tells him. “I guarantee someone brought a sex toy, and no one will own up to it.”

She didn’t realize just how high Scott’s eyebrows could get. They almost disappear into his hairline.

Sure enough, the gift exchange is full of equal parts junk and joke gifts, and Erica in marketing ends up unwrapping a gigantic bottle of lube. “Okay, there is no way this cost less than twenty dollars!”

“Amazon!” somebody yells, and Tessa is almost in tears she’s laughing so hard.

When all is said and done, Kaitlyn is the proud owner of a new toilet seat, Chiddy is running around with one of those cheesy fishing poles with a sprig of plastic mistletoe dangling from the line, and Tessa has a mini battery operated bubble machine.

She’s sitting in a corner examining her new prize when Scott comes over to see what she got. “That’s pretty neat,” he says. “My niece has one of those, they work better than you’d expect.”

“Yeah?” Tessa says. “I’m going to put it in my kitchen and have bubble dance parties.”

Scott laughs. “You better call me up, that sounds better than a club.”

Tessa smiles in response and looks down. She’s an introvert at heart, and there are so many people around she’s starting to feel claustrophobic. “I think I’m going to step out for a little air.”

“You feeling ok?” His demeanor flips on a dime. “Do you need food or anything?”

“No, it’s just getting stuffy in here,” she says, getting up to put on her jacket.

“Why don’t you go out on the patio, and I’ll grab you another drink,” he says. “Vodka soda, right?”

Tessa nods, and makes her way to the sliding doors that lead out to the small patio. She’s greeted with a frigid blast of air, but it still feels refreshing compared to being inside. There’s a couple of people standing off to the side smoking, and Tessa walks over to the long gas fireplace with short flames dancing over glass pebbles.

A few minutes later Scott appears next to her, and hands her a drink wordlessly. They stand and watch the fire without talking.

“Thanks for getting my drink,” Tessa says, breaking the silence. “I love those guys, but...they’re a lot sometimes.”

“No problem,” Scott says. “I completely understand.” A long pause. “You look really nice tonight.”

“Thank you,” Tessa replies. “You look nice too.”

“I’m a guy, all I had to do was put on a tie,” he says. They’re not looking at each other, but somehow they’ve moved closer together.

She’s not really cold, she’s had enough to drink that she’s not really feeling it, but an icy wind blows past and Tessa shivers involuntarily. Scott pulls her closer still, reaching around to rub her arm. “You cold? We can go in,” he says gently.

Tessa opens her mouth to say “In a minute” but before she can speak something hits her square in the face and she hears giggling from behind her. Scott drops his arm in an instant and they turn to find Kaitlyn and Andrew behind them, holding Chiddy’s mistletoe fishing pole.

“You’re under the mistletoe, you have to kiss!” Kaitlyn says, and Andrew is shaking his head but still laughing.

“Very funny,” Tessa says. “We’re going in.”

“No,” Kaitlyn pouts. “I don’t make the rules.”

Perhaps not, but she’s standing directly in front of the door, so she’s certainly enforcing them. “Kaitlyn, seriously.”

They square off for about thirty seconds, and then Scott leans over and gives her a quick peck on the cheek.

“Yay!” Kaitlyn cheers, and she and Andrew stumble back through the door.

Tessa laughs, a small uncomfortable sound, and downs the rest of her drink in one gulp. “I think I should probably go.”

“I’ll get us a ride,” Scott says, pulling out his phone.

“Oh, you don’t have to leave!” she says, pushing his hand down. “You’re having fun, don’t leave just because of me.”

“I’ve had enough fun for tonight, I think,” he says, stepping back so he can bring his phone back up. “You guys party way harder than what I’m used to.”

Tessa slips inside to retrieve her bubble machine and purse, and manages to get back outside without anyone noticing that she’s leaving. Their car is already waiting when she gets back out, and Scott holds the gate for her and opens the car door so she can climb inside. She rests her head against the window while Scott makes small talk with the driver, and suddenly feels very glad that he’s there.

Her head is spinning just a little when they pull up in front of her building - that last drink went down too fast, and she’s teetering on her heels a bit when she gets out of the car.

“Easy there,” Scott laughs, and reaches out to help steady her.

She looks at the box in her hands, and then back up at Scott. “Do you want to come up for a minute?” she asks.

“Yeah, sure,” he says, and they walk through the doors together. Tessa can walk unassisted, but she’s leaning on him more than she would like. As soon as they get in the elevator she steps away from him to push the button for her floor, and leans against the corner.

He follows her to her door, and takes the bubble machine without being asked so she can dig her keys out of her purse. “Shoes off,” she says as they walk in. Tessa’s a tidy person by nature, but she slips off her heels and kicks them aside, and deposits her jacket and purse on the living room chair.

Scott is still standing by the front door. “This is a nice place,” he says, and sets the bubble machine down on the kitchen counter.

Tessa doesn’t even respond, just sets to opening up her new toy. It comes with a bottle of bubbles and batteries, and a few quiet minutes later there are iridescent bubbles floating across her kitchen. “We need music,” she says.

The spinning feeling is starting to subside, but it takes some work getting her tv and sound system turned on. Scott is _still_ standing by the front door. “You can come in, you know,” she says, and he obliges.

“So we’re having this dance party right now?” he asks, with a half smile.

“Yes, we are,” Tessa replies, and finally finds a Spotify station with music she can dance to. She marches into the kitchen and turns on the stove light, then flips off the overhead light so it’s dim, and starts dancing.

It’s ridiculous, and she knows it is, and Scott is just standing there watching her, and she’s really not sure what her game plan is right now but it’s happening so she’s going with it. He was right, her kitchen is full of bubbles now. They brush and pop against her face and exposed back as she dances, and then Scott is dancing with her.

He’s actually not a bad dancer. His hips are keeping time with the music, and he rests his hands lightly on her hips, following her beat. The music is just as intoxicating as the alcohol in her system, and she feels herself reach out to him, put her arms on his shoulders so her fingertips are grazing the back of his neck.

She’s not sure which one of them is drawing them closer, but the next thing she knows his face is right in front of hers, and this is it, the moment of truth-

-and she pulls her arms back, puts a hand on his chest and pushes him away. “I’m sorry,” she gasps. “I’m really sorry. I can’t.”

“Hey, no, it’s okay,” he reassures her, dropping his hands from her waist. “I’m not - I wasn’t trying to-”

“No, it’s my fault, I don’t know what I was thinking.” She reaches out and turns the overhead light back on, and it floods them with a stark glow. “We work together,” she says lamely.

“We work together,” he repeats. “Let’s sit down. Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

Tessa beelines for the couch. “Yes. I want to watch a movie.”

She puts on Moulin Rouge, and they sit on opposite sides of the couch, and she falls asleep sometime in the middle.

When she wakes up in the morning, stiff and still wearing her dress (and the sticky bra), Scott is gone. There’s a note on her coffee table scribbled on the back of a receipt.

_I didn’t want to wake you so I just let myself out. Hope you feel better in the morning. Thanks for the dance party.   -S_

 

**The Goodbye (Until Next Year)**

Nothing seems to have changed. Tessa has gotten some light teasing from Kaitlyn and Annette for disappearing from the party without saying goodbye, but no one has mentioned that she and Scott left at the same time. Seeing Scott that first day afterward was a little awkward, but they’ve gone right back to their easy banter. Neither of them has acknowledged that anything happened, and if it’s up to Tessa they never will.

 

 **S.Moir:** i’m leaving at 2 so i can catch my flight. is there anything you need from me before then?

 **T.Virtue:** I think we’re good for now. At least until you get back. You’re gone until the 3rd, right?

 **S.Moir:** right. you’re not going home for christmas?

 **T.Virtue:** No, my mom and sister are flying down to spend Christmas with me this year.

 **S.Moir:** good, i’m glad you’re not going to be alone for the holidays. too bad you can’t come hang out with me back home, though

 **T.Virtue:** Ha, another time. Have a safe flight :)

 **S.Moir:** thanks! don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone

 

The office is already practically empty with all the employees on vacation, but it seems especially empty with Scott gone. Tessa keeps looking over to share something with him and then realizing he’s not there. It’s depressing.

She’s taken a few days off to spend with her mother and sister after Christmas, and she’s hoping the time away from the office will help. It does, until she’s telling her sister funny stories from work and Scott’s name keeps coming up until even her mother gives her a questioning look. “He’s just a coworker,” she says. They’re not convinced.

She spends New Year’s with Kaitlyn, at a house party. There’s not too many people there, and everyone is friendly and happy and Tessa is having a wonderful time. And then her phone buzzes with an email notification at three minutes to midnight, and it’s her work account, and she panics that she’s going to have to go into the office and fix something until she sees that it’s from Scott.

 

**(no subject)**

happy new year!

\- S

 

Tessa almost misses the countdown, and as everyone is chanting along she closes her eyes and wishes for a simple, uncomplicated year.

She explicitly does not wish for anything involving Scott Moir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yell at me on Tumblr, @beautimous


	3. January

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're just friends. Totally friends. Nothing to see here, just two friends being friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one week, whaaaaaaat?
> 
> Just a note, I'm starting to think Tessa might be an unreliable narrator. What do you think?

**The Comeback**

**Subject: In late today**

To: T.Virtue, A.Poje, P.Chan, A.Harmon, K.Weaver, D.Rodan

 

Hey team!

My flight got delayed, and I didn’t get in until 3am, so I’m going to get a few more hours of sleep and get to the office by 11. See you soon!

 

\- Scott

 

“Heeeey, there you are, you slacker!” Chiddy’s voice is audible through Tessa’s headphones, and she immediately forgets about the process she’s debugging as her heart jumps into her throat. “It’s quarter after!” She takes off her headphones and turns to greet Scott with everyone else.

“It’s good to see you too, Chiddy.” He sounds tired, but cheerful. “Didn’t know you guys were that desperate for more work.”

“Never mind, you can go back home,” Chiddy quickly replies, and Scott laughs as he sets his things down.

“How was your trip?” Tessa asks as he turns on his computer.

“Really good, it was nice to be home for Christmas,” he says, distracted by the error message on his lock screen. “Uh...did everyone’s passwords get reset again?”

“Yeah,” Tessa says ruefully. “I don’t know what happened this time, but you’ll have to go find James. He’s been unlocking people’s accounts all morning.”

“Guess I’ll go add myself to the list.” He turns and gives her a look she can’t quite interpret. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too,” she says, and she tries to keep the wistfulness out of her voice but it bleeds through. “Welcome back.” Tessa puts her headphones back on and kills the process she was running so she can start over, and keys through all the breakpoints three times before realizing she has no idea what she just did.

Half an hour later her messenger chimes, and she knows Scott’s gotten back into his computer because somehow she’s developed a sixth sense for when he’s sent her something before she even sees his name on the chat notification.

 

 **S.Moir:** <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNlMtqrYS0>

**S.Moir:** miss me?

 **T.Virtue:** Just your taste in music.

 **T.Virtue:** <https://youtu.be/pt8VYOfr8To>

**S.Moir:** touche. i’ll stay out of your hair.

 

For just a moment, Tessa considers asking if he missed her. Instead she closes the chat window with extreme prejudice and turns her attention back to her code editor.

It’s after five when she finally shuts it down for the day, and she sags back into her chair with an exaggerated sigh that’s loud enough to catch Scott’s attention. “Yeah? Me too. Let’s call it.”

They start talking while she’s packing up her things, and she’s so caught up in Scott’s recap of his trip home that they’re halfway to her place before she remembers that she’s supposed to be keeping her distance.

 

**The Boundary Line**

It’s fine. They’re just friends. Not even _friends_ friends, they’re work friends. Maybe Scott’s gotten into the habit of walking home with her every day, but he hasn’t been in her apartment since the Christmas party. And they’ve gone out to lunch a few times, just the two of them, but what are they supposed to do when they get out of a meeting late and everyone else has already left?

 

 **S.Moir:** grab lunch today? i really want to try that mexican place on blake st

 **T.Virtue:** I can’t, I already told Kaitlyn we’d have a girls lunch! She owes me for that mistletoe stunt. Tomorrow?

 **T.Virtue:** We have to get there by like 11:30, they’re packed otherwise!

 **S.Moir:** i’m putting it on my calendar right now

 **T.Virtue:** Call it “POS research”

 **S.Moir:** genius. just sent you an invite.

 

Tessa still hasn’t mentioned anything to anyone about almost kissing Scott in her kitchen last month, and right now she’s not sure if that would shut Kaitlyn up or just encourage her more.

“I’m telling you, he’s got a thing for you,” Kaitlyn says between bites of her pho. “He’s practically got cartoon hearts for eyes every time he looks at you.”

It would definitely encourage her. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Tessa says firmly. “We just have a really good working relationship, that’s all.”

It’s both a lie and not a lie. Scott is, hands down, the best project manager she’s ever worked with. In a matter of weeks they’ve reached the point where she can make eye contact with him in a meeting and know exactly what he’s thinking, and vice versa. Which is why it might be a little bit of a lie.

Kaitlyn gives her an exasperated look. “Chiddy and I have a good working relationship, but he’s not walking me home every day after work.”

“Maybe he would if you guys didn’t live in opposite directions,” she teases. “Besides, it doesn’t matter if he’s got a thing for me or not. I’m not going there.”

“Why not?” Kaitlyn asks, a little too loudly for even the packed pho place, and Tessa shushes her with a laugh. “Sorry. Just, you’re single, he’s single-”

“How do you know he’s single?” It’s the best rebuttal she has.

“Chiddy told me. How do you _not_ know? You guys are together, like, all the time.”

“Not outside of work!” Tessa protests. “We just...don’t talk about stuff like that.”

Kaitlyn’s expression is somewhere between incredulous and utterly confused. “What the hell _do_ you guys talk about?”

“I don’t know! Work. Toronto. The best places to eat around here.” That part is true. She’s been careful not to get too personal.

“Sure. Whatever. My point is,” Kaitlyn says, jabbing the air with her chopsticks for emphasis, “you’re both single and clearly into each other, so you should go for it.”

“It’s not going to happen,” Tessa insists. “Been there, done that, never again.” _I survived a work relationship and all I got was this shitty t-shirt._

Kaitlyn’s face softens. She’s one of the few people Tessa’s opened up to about that experience. “That was completely different. Scott’s not your boss, and you’re not some new recruit who has to prove herself anymore. If anything,” she continues, “you’ve got seniority over him.”

“Still, if things went bad, I’d have to see him and work with him every single day. I’d blow up my personal life and my work life in one go. It would impact the whole team - it’s just not worth it,” Tessa says, staring at her mostly empty bowl of pho. “Not when things are going so well the way they are.”

Kaitlyn sighs. “Fine. I’ll drop it. For now, at least.” She pulls her wallet out of her purse. “I’ll just watch you guys flirt in circles around each other and suffer in silence.”

“You’re so noble,” Tessa says drily. “Thanks for lunch.”

 

 **S.Moir:** i got the user matrix for TRP-99, still think we can pull that off by thursday?

 **T.Virtue:** Yes

 **S.Moir:** great, i’ll send it your way. how was your girls lunch?

 **T.Virtue:** It was fun

 **S.Moir:** is everything ok?

 **T.Virtue:** Yeah, everything’s fine. Sorry, just busy.

 **S.Moir:** don’t stress yourself out about it. we can always bump those profile stories, i didn’t want to pull those in anyway.

 **T.Virtue:** No, we’ll be able to finish those. But thanks.

 **S.Moir:** anytime.

**_T.Virtue is busy and may not see your messages right away_ **

 

It’s 5:03 and Tessa is staring at her monitors without seeing them while she weighs her options. One, she could grab her stuff and bolt out of the building before Scott realizes she’s leaving, but that seems rude, and he’d probably ask her about it tomorrow. Two, she could stay for another hour and tell Scott she can’t walk home with him, but then she runs the risk of him offering to hang out, and then she’s worked another hour (which sounds deeply unappealing right now). Three, she could make up fake plans and go hang out somewhere and then get a Lyft to her place, but that requires making up fake plans and could spin out of control. Or four-

“I’m fucking beat,” Scott says, swiveling his chair around to face her. “How about you? Ready to get out of here?”

“Oh, totally,” she responds.

Or four, she completely loses her nerve and walks home with him like she has been for the last couple of weeks while trying to pretend everything is totally normal, and she didn’t just spend the whole afternoon obsessing about whether or not she’s unintentionally leading him on.

She’s had her messenger set to “busy” and her headphones on all afternoon, but without that buffer she’s just...quiet. Scott props up the conversation for a couple of blocks but her monosyllabic replies only get her so far.

“Is something wrong?” he asks while waiting for a light to change. “You seem out of it today.”

“I am a little out of it,” she admits, happy to cling to the lifeline he’s unwittingly thrown her. “Sorry, I didn’t think it was that obvious.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” he says. “I just don’t want to make you listen to me talk your ear off if something’s on your mind.”

“Oh, no, I just have some - stuff - going on right now,” she says, trying to sound reassuring but vague. “Nothing work related.”

“You want to talk about it?” Oh, god, if he gets any more considerate she’s going to throw herself out in traffic.

“No,” she replies, “It’s, uh...it’s personal.”

“Okay.” He backs off immediately. “So this place we're going to tomorrow is really good, huh?”

“D’Corazon? Yeah, the food is great.” With the conversation back in the Safe Zone, Tessa lets herself reengage.

They’re just friends. It’s fine.

 

**The GNO**

“What are-don’t! Don’t do that,” Kaitlyn protests as Andrew takes her wine glass away from her and holds it up to his face.

“Just, calm down, there’s a fly in your wine,” Andrew says, glass still in front of his nose. “I’ll get you another one, hang on.” He turns to the bar to order.

Kaitlyn throws her hands over her mouth. “Oh my god that’s so gross!” she exclaims through her fingers. “Ewww! I hope it wasn’t there the whole time!”

“Relax,” Scott says. “I’m sure the alcohol sanitized it for you.”

“It could be worse,” Tessa contributes helpfully. “You could have swallowed it and not even known.”

“Ohhh, you guys are the worst,” Kaitlyn moans. “I don’t know why I hang out with you.”

“Because we’re _amaaaaziiiiing,_ ” Annette sings out, throwing an arm around her. “Also you work with us and don’t have a choice.”

Andrew hands her another glass of white wine, and everyone tries to muffle their laughter as she examines it intensely for any extra insect ingredients. “What were you saying, Kait?” He asks, trying to distract her. It’s happy hour on Friday, and they’ve all had a couple.

“I was saying that I’m really excited for our ladies’ night, it’s been a few months.” Satisfied her wine is free of flies, she takes a sip. “What are you guys doing tonight?”

“Oh, us? We’re just gonna be hanging out at-where did you say you guys were going again?” Chiddy asks, his smile small but mischievous.

“I didn’t, and you are not allowed to crash this party,” Kaitlyn retorts. “Don’t any of you have lives outside this place?” All of them shake their heads, including Tessa and Annette. “Okay, at least two of you have significant others.”

“Emily’s at a conference this weekend,” Chiddy says.

“Andrew and I have taken a vow of celibacy until this project goes live,” Scott says.

“I’m saving myself for David Beckham,” Tessa says.

Annette puts her hands up. “You told me to ditch my man tonight, so I don’t want to hear it.”

Kaitlyn shakes her head. “I hate you guys.”

“So you’re living the single guy life this weekend, huh?” Annette says to Chiddy. “Where are these two delinquents taking you tonight?” Andrew and Scott’s mouths drop in a show of mock offense.

“Actually, I think we’re just going to Henry’s to watch some hockey,” Chiddy says, and all three of the women present crack up.

“Aww, Chiddy, shut up!” Andrew says, while Scott insists “You mean we’re going to the clubs, and then taking beautiful women out to expensive restaurants!”

Kaitlyn is wiping tears from her eyes. “What do you think, should we take pity on them?”

Tessa says _“NO”_ at the same time Annette says “Sure!” and she may have been a little forceful, judging from the way everyone’s looking at her right now.

“I mean...we haven’t had ladies’ night in forever! I don’t want a bunch of icky boys ruining it,” she says, sticking her tongue out at them for good measure.

“What if we caught up with you guys around, like, 9?” Andrew asks. “That gives you plenty of time to talk about us behind our backs.”

“I don’t know,” Kaitlyn says. “Believe me, there is _a lot_ to talk about.” She and Annette both look at Tessa.

Tessa closes her eyes. “Fine. Okay. Whatever.” Andrew and Chiddy cheer and pull her into a hug between them. “Oh my god! No! I did not say this was okay!”

They release her, and Andrew pulls out his phone. “Let’s see, Tessa, I’m pretty sure I have your number…”

“Nope. Nuh uh.” Kaitlyn is shaking her head and reaching out to smack Scott on the arm. “If this is Andrew’s responsibility he’ll lose his phone in an hour. Give Tessa your number.”

“What?” Now both Scott and Tessa are gawking at Kaitlyn.

“Tessa’s our lead, and Scott’s our project manager, and you’re both the most responsible people here. C’mon, Scott, project manage the fuck out of this.” She is very pointedly not looking at Tessa, probably because she can feel the blistering heat off the glare Tessa is currently giving her.

Scott pulls out his phone. “I don’t know about responsible,” he says, but Kaitlyn shushes him.

“I said _here_ , not _ever._ Tessa, get your phone out.” At least she has something to do other than look at Scott. Tessa gets her phone out of her purse, and Scott dictates his number to her so she can text him. “Oh, tonight is going to be so much fun!”

 _If I don’t kill you first,_ Tessa thinks to herself, hoping Scott thinks the flush in her cheeks is just from the wine.

The Mercury Cafe isn’t Tessa’s first choice for dining out, but it’s located centrally to the three of them and they have food that appeals to all of them - including Annette’s gluten-free requirements - so that’s where they are. Plus it does have live music and dancing in the ballroom upstairs, and Tessa’s looking forward to the Latin fusion band that’s playing tonight.

Still - “It would be really nice if our server would come back,” she says, looking around in the hopes that saying it out loud would make it happen.

“You don’t come here for the service, you come here for the food and the ambiance,” Kaitlyn says, polishing off her organic chocolate cake. “What’s the rush? You’re not planning on taking off before the guys get here, are you?”

“No,” Tessa says, even though she definitely wants to pay her check before the guys get there in case she decides she needs to leave in a hurry. “Maybe I just want another drink.”

“Mmm-hmmm,” Kaitlyn says, rolling her eyes, and Annette looks back and forth between them.

“Did I miss something?” she says, and Tessa puts her face in her hand, knowing what’s about to happen.

“Tessa’s got the hots for Scott,” Kaitlyn says, and then giggles at her rhyme.

Annette...does not look surprised. “Well, I knew that already. I thought something actually happened,” she complains, and Tessa’s head snaps up.

“What do you mean you knew that already?” she demands, and Kaitlyn laughs harder.

“Tessa, honey, I love you to pieces but you and Scott have been flirting in circles since he got here,” Annette says, and Tessa moans and sinks down in her seat a little.

“Does everyone know? Oh my god. I need to change jobs and leave the country.” Is she having a panic attack? She feels like she’s having a panic attack.

“Nooo, it’s okay,” Kaitlyn says. “Everyone else is either oblivious or doesn’t care, I promise.”

That does not make Tessa feel better. What does make her feel better is that their server chooses that moment to re-materialize. “Hi, can we get the check?”

Her momentary elation at having the end in sight evaporates when her phone buzzes. She checks the lock screen; 8:42, and one text from Scott.

 

_We’re paying our tab, where r u guys?_

 

She looks helplessly up at Annette and Kaitlyn. “Well, text him back!” Kaitlyn says, because she evidently has a death wish. Tessa takes a deep breath.

 

_We’re at the Mercury Cafe, 22nd and California. Hope you’re wearing your dancing shoes!_

 

They’re already at a table upstairs when the guys arrive. “How was Henry’s?” Tessa asks over the music, and all of them shrug.

“I’m more of a dive bar kinda guy,” Scott says, and pulls a chair out to sit down next to her. “You guys having fun?”

“Oh, yeah,” Tessa says, hoping she sounds more confident than she feels. The band finishes their song and takes a break, and all of them crowd around the small table.

“So much for clubs and hot women, huh?” Annette asks.

“I think Scott had one on the line, so of course we ruined it for him,” Chiddy says, and they all laugh. Including Tessa, who is trying to ignore the twinge in her chest. Is she jealous? She’s not allowed to be jealous.

“Believe me, if I had been interested there’s no way you guys could have ruined it for me,” Scott says, and Tessa’s twinge is replaced with...anger?

“Is that so, Casanova?” she turns to ask him, to the sound of “oooooooh!”s.

Surprise flares briefly in his eyes, then ebbs into a sheepish look. “No, not really,” he says, “but I have to tell myself that so I don’t crawl under a rock and die of embarrassment.”

Ugh. She’d prefer it if he could be more of a dick.

The band starts back up, playing something with a slower, more traditional beat. “Scott, do you dance?” Kaitlyn asks.

“I mean...I can,” he says, and Kaitlyn’s eyes light up.

“You and Tessa should go dance! Tessa’s an amazing dancer,” she says, and honestly Tessa would be more upset but she’s been expecting this for the last half hour, so by now she’s just resigned.

“Oh, is she?” Scott says, looking at her, and she knows he’s thinking about their kitchen shenanigans. _That was nothing, kiddo._

“I dabble,” she says, and stands up and holds out her hand. Andrew and Chiddy are already clapping-they’ve seen this go down a couple of times, and are eager to watch the fireworks.

Scott stands and takes her hand and leads her out to the floor, and then...swings her around into an expert hold, and begins to cha-cha.

Tessa is so surprised she almost stumbles on her own feet, but follows his lead and can’t keep herself from smiling. “So you’ve done this before,” she says, and he smiles back.

“Yeah, once or twice maybe,” he says, guiding her into a spin and then pulling her back into the step.

She’s a little rusty and they’ve never danced together before, so they take it easy to start, but after a couple of minutes he’s leading her through more intricate spins and floor patterns, and she’s keeping up with him the whole way. When the song finishes, they realize they’ve got an audience - one that’s applauding, snapping them out of their Latin-infused reverie.

They walk back to the table to find four blank stares. “You guys planned that,” Annette says, and the table explodes into confusion.

“Did you know about this?” “No, man, I swear!” “Holy _shit_ that was amazing!” And all Tessa can do is shake her head and grin.

“I need a drink, you?” Scott asks, and they leave their friends to bicker with themselves.

“That was pretty good for ‘just some guy with a communications major’,” Tessa says while they wait for their drinks, and Scott shrugs.

“My parents own a dance studio,” he says. “I grew up learning ballroom, and then I used to go partner with singles during lessons for some extra cash in college.” The bartender hands him his beer, and he takes a swig. “What about you?” he asks. “I thought you spent your teenage years learning how to write code.”

“I did,” she says, “but that was after I dropped out of dance school.” She takes her drink from the bartender, but neither of them makes any move to leave the bar.

“Why’d you drop out?” he asks. “If that was any indication, you were pretty fucking good.”

She gives him a wry smile. “Tibial stress fracture,” she says, and he winces. “When I was 14. That’s about when I was starving myself, weighing myself five times a day, training, rehearsing…” She shakes her head. “I loved it, but I didn’t love it that much.”

“So you decided you were going to be a rockstar programmer instead,” he says, and she laughs.

“Best decision I ever made,” she says. “And, you know, some other dance on the side. Just for fun.”

“You looked like you were having a lot of fun out there,” Scott tells her.

“I was. Best time I’ve had in a while.” She takes a thoughtful sip of her drink. “C’mon, let’s go see what else we can convince those guys we know how to do.”

 

 **The Approach**  

The Monday after the coed girls night out, Tessa is already at her desk when Scott walks in. “Hey, Tess,” he says, and sets his stuff down. _Tess? That’s new._

She’s going through bug reports to assign them out when her phone buzzes, and when she checks it there’s a text from Scott.

 

_Fri night was a lot of fun. Do it again this fri?_

 

She turns to look at him as inconspicuously as possible, and he looks over his shoulder at her and raises an eyebrow. Turning back, she rolls the request over in her head for a minute before tapping out a reply.

 

_Yes, let’s. Dancing only tho. I’ve got my eye on you, Moir._

 

Tessa can’t help but notice Scott’s got the biggest smile on his face when they walk into standup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yell at me on Tumblr, @beautimous


	4. February

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He lifts her back up easily, and she falls onto him, still embracing him. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” he laughs, putting his hands around her waist to help steady her. “Are you okay? That was completely my fault.”
> 
> “I’m fine, I’m fine!” she laughs back. “I’m just glad you didn’t drop me!”
> 
> “Never,” he says, and that’s about the time Tessa realizes she’s still holding onto him for dear life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SO SORRY for the wait on this! Of course the shortest month would be the longest chapter. The good news is that you will notice the total number of chapters has gone up, because these two refuse to be rushed. The bad news is that these two refuse to be rushed.

**The Deadline**

**S.Moir:** status meeting?

**T.Virtue:** I’ll be right in, just gonna grab some water.

**S.Moir:** i’ll save you a good chair

 

Tessa walks into the conference room and is immediately on edge. Thursday status meetings are usually her, Scott, Doug, and a couple of analysts. They’re all there, but so is Rosa, their marketing director, and Ken. Ken their CTO who tends not to come to weekly meetings unless something is going very wrong.

She takes her seat next to Scott and listens while Manny goes through their numbers for the week, and tries to focus on what he’s saying. Traffic is down but conversions are up. First campaign did good, second one not so good. None of this is unexpected or catastrophic, why are Rosa and Ken here?

She finds out as soon as Manny is done. “I know you’re wondering why Rosa and I are here,” Ken starts, “and I hate that I’m always the bearer of bad-no, not bad,  _ challenging _ news.”

Both Tessa and Scott turn their heads toward each other just enough to share a Look.

“So the ground up redesign has been on track, for the most part, and that’s fantastic,” Ken continues, “and I know we had projected a July launch but plans have changed.” Tessa’s stomach begins to sink. “We’ve been approached by a grocery store chain that wants to partner with us. I can’t tell you who it is yet, because we’re still working on the contract, but this could be huge for us.”

Rosa jumps in. “The really exciting thing about this is that not only do they want to offer our product to their customers, they want to include our brand in all of their marketing. It’s going to reach a wider audience than we’ve ever had access to.”

“So where’s the challenge?” Scott asks, because he can’t stand it when things are being sugar coated.

“The challenge is,” Ken says, “that so far, the terms of the contract are dependant on the new platform being completed and live by the end of May.”

“We’re being shorted two months of development time?” Tessa asks, incredulous. “Are we cutting features?”

Doug looks deeply uncomfortable, and Tessa realizes this conversation has already happened. “The only thing we can afford to cut is the store finder.”

Tessa closes her eyes in frustration. “The store finder is practically done. We didn’t have to touch any of that code, it just needs UX work. What about the favorites list? Or the image to text reader? Those are new, and they’ll require the most testing.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but those features are actually crucial to the plan we’ve come up with,” Ken says. “We’re prepared to get you more development resources to help push this through.”

Scott speaks up this time. “That’s really not a good idea,” he says. “The team is already starting to step on each other in the API. If we get even more developers on it, we’ll have collisions all over the place, and they’ll be spending all their time just merging code.”

“QA is going to be the bottleneck,” Tessa adds. “Andrew and Chiddy and I can push the work through, but Annette is maxed out as it is. She’ll need the help.”

“That’ll be harder to arrange, but I think we can do it,” Doug says to Ken. 

Ken looks at Tessa. “If we get you more QA, you’ll be code complete by the end of April?”

She looks him straight in the eye. “You’re goddamn right we will.”

Ken laughs. “That’s what I like to hear!”

The meeting moves on to upcoming ad campaigns, but Tessa doesn’t hear any of it. She’s too busy working out in her head how many more hours a week she’ll have to put in. Scott nudges her arm, and when they lock eyes she knows they’re both thinking the same thing.

_ This is going to suck. _

 

**The Date(question mark?)**

It’s not a date.

That’s what Tessa has kept repeating to herself since the beginning of the week. She made that clear, right? It’s just dancing.

Scott’s demeanor hasn’t changed at all; they had lunch on Wednesday, they’ve walked home together all week as usual, he hasn’t been any more flirtatious or behaved any differently towards her. So, it’s not. She’s pretty sure.

But now it’s Friday.

 

**S.Moir:** still on for tonight?

**T.Virtue:** Absolutely. Talk details on the way home?

**S.Moir:** absolutely. can’t wait.

**S.Moir:** [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAjfB0XfjkA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAjfB0XfjkA)

 

Tessa listens to Michael Buble croon through her headphones and sighs. She should probably just ask him if he thinks it’s a date.

The problem is, it just feels  _ weird _ to start a conversation about whether or not Scott is interested in her romantically while they’re at work. Or in proximity of work. Or doing anything that feels like part of the work day. Which is how Tessa has made it all the way to the front of her building with Scott and still does not know whether or not tonight is just a couple of friends hanging out or...not.

“The band doesn’t start until 9, so I thought maybe we could show up around 8 and get some food first?” Scott says. “Unless you want to go somewhere else to eat.”

Tessa thinks about the service at the Mercury Cafe. “Actually...I think I’ll just eat at home. I’m trying to save money on eating out.”

“Oh...okay.” He seems taken aback, but keeps talking. “Share a ride, then? Pick you up at 9?”

“Perfect,” she says. “I’ll see you then.” He turns to leave, and Tessa remembers her question. “Hey, Scott?”

He turns back around. “Yeah?”

On second thought...this doesn’t seem like the right time, either. “Don’t forget the Merc is cash only.”

Dressing for a perhaps-date is even more complicated than dressing for a definitely-date (look nice? But not too nice. But be casual. Like a friend would. A casual friend who is also a dance partner. But look nice.) but Tessa has managed to pull together a skirt and top that are flattering and move well and don’t seem like she’s trying too hard.

(Which is ironic, since she tried very hard for two hours.)

By the time Scott texts her  _ (hey T, on my way) _ (T?  **T** ?!?) she’s a bundle of nerves who definitely did not eat at home. 

She’s shivering on the curb in front of her building when a blue Camry pulls up and Scott jumps out of the passenger side. “Hey! Here, you can have the front.”

He’s climbed in the back before she can protest. No hug - that’s...good? 

Scott continues to be better at conversing with strangers than she is, so she listens to him discuss things he HAS to do in Colorado with their driver and stifles the urge to invite him out to do some of those things until they pull up to the Merc.

They’re barely out of the car before she finally blurts it out. “Is this a date? I mean...is this a  _ date _ date?”

Scott’s eyes get a little wider and she can see his cheeks redden a little. “I...don’t know. Uh-do you want it to be a date?”

None of the three hundred potential scenarios she ran through in her mind while getting dressed included one where he responded to her question with a question. “No! Not that, uh, I don’t want to date you, I mean...not that I  _ wouldn’t _ want to date you, it’s just...I don’t date coworkers,” she finally spits out, “and I wasn’t sure if you knew that or not.”

His face finally gets off the rollercoaster it’s been on for the last several seconds and settles into a bashful smile. “Tessa, it’s fine,” he says, in a voice that sounds like he means it. “I didn’t know, but it’s a totally reasonable rule to have.”

Tessa blinks. “So...you didn’t mean for this to be a date?”

He laughs at the bluntness of her question. “I didn’t really mean for it to be anything in particular, I guess,” he says. “All I know is, I had fun dancing with you last week and I wanted to do it again.”

“Oh.” That doesn’t actually answer her question, but she’ll take it. “I had a lot of fun too.”

“Well let’s go dance, then. C’mon, you’re shivering.” He rubs her arms as they walk inside, and she leads them up the stairs and doesn’t complain when Scott pays the cover for both of them.

Tonight the band is a swing jazz ensemble, and couples are already jitterbugging as they make their way to a table towards the back and relieve themselves of their coats. “You want a drink?” Scott asks, and she shakes her head no.

“Let’s dance first,” she says, and he leads her out to the dance floor.

Scott really is a good dance partner. She’s danced with a lot of guys who thought they knew how, but mostly dragged her around the floor while they focused on themselves and didn’t understand the reciprocation needed to actually dance  _ together _ . It’s clear that Scott understands that - he leads but his cues are gentle, he watches to make sure she’s following, knows how to add in steps when he needs to so they’re never out of sync. 

They Lindy Hop through the first set, which both of them admit they’re not very good at, and Tessa is a little frustrated at herself but Scott hams it up every time she misses a step to make her laugh. He tries to dip her at the end of the last song before the band takes a break, but drops his supporting hand just a little farther down than she was expecting and Tessa loses her balance, flinging her arms around his neck to keep herself from hitting the floor.

He lifts her back up easily, and she falls onto him, still embracing him. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” he laughs, putting his hands around her waist to help steady her. “Are you okay? That was completely my fault.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” she laughs back. “I’m just glad you didn’t drop me!”

“Never,” he says, and that’s about the time Tessa realizes she’s still holding onto him for dear life.

She drops her arms abruptly. “Let’s go grab some drinks,” she says brightly. “I’m parched.”

They go back to the table after picking up their drinks, and as soon as they sit down a tiny elderly woman with silvery-white hair comes up to them, putting a hand on Scott’s arm.

“I just wanted to tell the two of you that you’re such a lovely couple,” she says. “I was watching you dance and it reminded me of how much fun I used to have dancing with my husband when we were your age.”

“Oh, we’re, um...thank you,” Scott says, patting her hand. 

“Yes, thank you,” Tessa chimes in. “That’s so sweet of you to say!”

The woman pats Scott’s arm one more time and says “Take care of each other,” and then leaves.

They smile at each other, not quite sure what to say. “It really was sweet of her to come compliment us,” Tessa finally says. 

“Yeah, I just didn’t have the heart to tell her we’re not a couple,” Scott says. “I hope that was okay, I know it gets on your nerves when that happens.”

“Oh, yeah, don’t worry about it,” she says. “This is a totally different situation.”

“How do you mean?” Scott asks.

“Well, we’re out on a Friday night, dancing together, and there’s no one else with us,” Tessa explains. “I can understand how this looks like a date.”

“Sure,” he concedes, then continues with “Can I ask you why you don’t date coworkers?” and Tessa chokes on her drink.

After much coughing and sipping on water and Scott patting her on the back, Tessa finally manages to get out a reply. “It’s just...a really bad idea for me.”

“Yeah?” he says. “I know it’s risky in general, but why is it a bad idea for you?”

She takes another careful sip of her drink, weighs the ramifications of going into detail, decides she can trust Scott with this. “I had a bad experience with it, at my first job,” she says. “I dated my boss, who was a lot older than I was and separated from his wife, and then right when I thought we were getting serious I found out he wasn’t as separated as he’d led me to believe.”

“Ouch.” Scott makes a pained face. “That’s a shitty situation.”

“It was,” Tessa admits. “And I felt like such an idiot, because I knew better and I did it anyway. And then I had to work for him for six more months after I broke it off. He actually threatened to give me a bad reference if I left before my project wrapped.”

“God, what an asshole,” Scott says, and looks legitimately pissed off. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

Tessa shrugs, the kind she hopes looks casual and not bitter. “I mean, I came out of it all right,” she says. “We never told anyone, so I didn’t have to worry about my reputation. It was just so miserable to have to work with someone I was so angry at.” 

“Why would you have to worry about your reputation? Besides your boss lying about you.”

“Because I didn’t want to be  _ that girl _ ,” she says. “You know, the one everyone thinks is screwing her way up the ladder. That’s why I don’t really talk about it. I’m still worried someone’s going to hear about it and I’ll never be taken seriously again.”

Scott nods. “You don’t have to worry about me saying anything,” he says, and she smiles.

“I know. I wouldn’t have told you if I thought you might,” she says, and in front of them the band starts gathering onstage again. Tessa finishes the rest of her drink and stands up. “Let’s go show ‘em how it’s done, eh?”

They dance four more songs, and by then Tessa’s feet are screaming at her to go sit down, so she signals to Scott that she’s out and he follows her off the floor.

“Are you done for the night?” he asks her, watching her take off her shoes and massage her feet.

“I think so,” she says reluctantly. “Sorry, I’m getting old.”

“Nah, I’m pretty beat myself. It’s been a long week,” he says, and she has to agree.

When their Lyft pulls up in front of Tessa’s building, Scott tells the driver “I’ll be right back,” then hops out to help her out of the car.

“That was a lot of fun,” he says as they stand in front of the door.

“Even if it wasn’t a date?” she asks before she can bite back the words.

He grins. “It was a lot of fun no matter what it was,” he says, and it makes her heart clench, how much she knows he means it.

“It was,” she concurs. “You better get back to the car before he takes off without you.”

She opens her arms for a hug, and when he leans in she rests her head on his shoulder and says “Let’s do it again next week.”

“Okay,” he says, surprised, elated. “I’d like that.” They pull apart and Scott turns to go back to the car. 

“Scott,” she calls after him, and he turns. “Dance partners only, right?”

He nods, laughing. “You got it,” he says, and she’s so glad he took it the way she meant it. “‘Night, Tess.”

Tessa turns the evening over and over in her head as she’s getting ready for bed, and can find nothing wrong with it. It went so much better than she’d expected. Not only did they have a great time, but everything was out on the table and Scott didn’t seem to have a problem with it at all. They both know where they stand, and Tessa can just relax about it already.

There’s just one thing that bothers her: If this wasn’t a date, then why does she definitely not want to tell Kaitlyn about it?

 

**The Late Night**

It’s the start of a new sprint, and as requested they’ve loaded as much into it as three developers working ridiculous hours can complete in two weeks. Just planning it took three hours and a whiteboard session, but Tessa is cautiously optimistic.

“Good thing I already don’t have a life,” she says to Scott at 7:15pm on a Wednesday.

“I hear you,” he says. “But we’re still taking a dance break on Friday.”

“That is not up to us,” she responds. “That is up to this messed up data model and a  _ lot _ of coffee.”

“Anything I can do?” he asks. “Is Toronto still giving you lip about that?”

“I mean...I don’t think there’s anything they can do, either.” Tessa rubs her temples. “It just is what it is, at this point. But you could play DJ, if you insist on staying.”

“Hey, I’m here for moral support,” he says, and unplugs his headphones so he can plug in the portable speaker. “Chiddy! Andrew! Any requests?”

“Anything but top 40,” Andrew says. “If Kaitlyn makes me listen to any more Taylor Swift I’m going to lose it.”

“Classic rock it is,” Scott says, and the sounds of Dream On fill the mostly empty office.

They’ve gone dancing again once since that first awkward not-a-date, and it was less awkward and still fun. She’s even beginning to believe that maybe Scott  _ isn’t _ interested in her as anything more than a friend.

Except that thought sets off uncomfortable feelings, so she just doesn’t think about it. And she hasn’t told Kaitlyn that she and the man who gives her “cartoon hearts for eyes” have a standing Friday night tradition. So really, Tessa’s still not 100% sure what’s going on. 

Chiddy and Andrew have both packed it up and gone home by 9, and Tessa is still working on the objects that Chiddy will need to pick up the next feature. Scott is still there, playing 90’s chick rock, to Tessa’s surprise.

“I would not have expected this musical selection from you,” she says to him, and he smirks.

“I find it very motivating,” he says. “Do you want me to change it?”

“No, I’m loving it.” She swivels her chair around to face him. “You really don’t have to stay, you know. I’ve only got about an hour and a half left on this thing.”

“It’s not a problem,” he insists. “If I was home, I’d just be sitting on my couch in sweats. At least you’re better company than my roomba.”

She laughs. “Happy to hear I’m more engaging than a robot vacuum.”

He’s still there when she finally finishes up a little after ten, so she lets him walk home with her instead of getting a ride. They stroll down 16th, where the trees are still decorated with thousands of tiny white fairy lights from the holidays.

“I love that they leave these on for so long,” Tessa says. “It’s so beautiful.”

“It does make the walk home kind of magical,” Scott agrees.

She links arms with him, feigning that she’s cold, but really it’s to keep herself from grabbing for his hand to hold the rest of the way home.

 

**The VD**

 

Valentine’s Day has never been Tessa’s thing. She’s into the romance, and the chocolate, but not so much the performance aspect of the whole thing. Every guy she’s ever been with treated it like an obligation, and the sappy sentiments on the cards they gave her never seemed heartfelt. 

It’s always a bit of a spectacle in the office, though, and she’s appreciating the front row seat. Vases of flowers dot the landscape of desks, and right now they’re listening to a  _ barbershop quartet _ deliver a singing telegram to someone over in marketing.

“But no hunky strip-o-grams this year,” Annette laments.

“Wait, has that actually happened?” Scott asks.

“No,” Annette laughs, “but a girl can dream.”

Tessa’s chat window with Scott is full of YouTube links - they’ve been going back and forth all morning with the most ridiculous love songs they can find.

 

 **S.Moir:** [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQHhqDRn4_c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQHhqDRn4_c)

**T.Virtue:** Is that the best you can do?

**T.Virtue:** [ https://youtu.be/CRfy1yorkec](https://youtu.be/CRfy1yorkec)

**S.Moir:** you take that back. chicago is a goddamned treasure

**S.Moir:** [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srEe6K34DVo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srEe6K34DVo)

**T.Virtue:** I hate how catchy that song is

**S.Moir:** i still don’t know what it is he won’t do for love

**T.Virtue:** THAT. Obviously.

**T.Virtue:** It’s in the lyrics, Scott. Pay attention.

 

Just before lunch another flower delivery arrives on the floor, for Kaitlyn. Tessa watches her take it to her desk with great interest, considering that Kaitlyn hasn’t mentioned she’s dating anyone.

“Those are gorgeous,” Tessa says, and they are - it’s a small arrangement, but it’s a lovely combination of pink and white roses. “Who are they from?”

“There’s no card,” Kaitlyn says, and Tessa can tell she’s nervous. “Must be a secret admirer.”

“That’s a little creepy,” Annette says, coming over to inspect the flowers herself. “Are you sure there’s no card?”

“Nope,” Kaitlyn replies. “I don’t think it’s creepy! I think it’s sweet.” Which confirms Tessa’s theory that she knows exactly who they’re from. She also notices that Andrew is paying maybe a little more attention than he typically would.  _ Sneaky, sneaky.  _

Fortunately for Kaitlyn, another delivery interrupts what would absolutely be an interrogation style line of questioning, and they all turn to Annette as she’s presented with an obnoxiously large balloon bouquet. “I’m gonna  _ kill _ that fucker,” she swears under her breath, but her eyes look pleased.

Tessa excuses herself from the circus of chatter and goes back to her desk. Scott catches her eye and smiles. “I’m actually glad I’m single right now,” he says. “I wouldn’t even know where to order a singing telegram.”

“Same here,” Tessa says, retrieving her headphones. “I can buy my own chocolate, thanks.”

“Speaking of, you want to grab some lunch and then buy some half priced candy?” Scott asks, but she shakes her head.

“I brought lunch, gotta get this data structure issue figured out,” she says.

An hour later she’s listening to music and deep in her own head when something lands on her desk to her left. Her gaze snaps from her monitor to a large bag of truffles.

When she takes her headphones off, Scott is standing just behind her. “I bought you half priced candy,” he says, “and Starbucks. Almond milk, right?” he asks as he hands her the drink, and she nods.

“Thank you! You didn’t have to do that,” she says, and Scott sits back down in his chair and shakes his head.

“It’s the least I can do, you’ve been killing yourself to keep things on track.” He smiles. “Besides, I got myself  _ two _ bags.”

Tessa pops a truffle in her mouth, then looks up to realize Kaitlyn is staring at her.  _ What? _ Tessa says with her eyes, and Kaitlyn raises an eyebrow. In response, Tessa looks pointedly at the flowers on Kaitlyn’s desk, and Kaitlyn rolls her eyes and looks back at her monitors. Feeling victorious, Tessa puts her headphones on and cues up the sappiest playlist she can find. It’s going to be a good afternoon.

 

**The Reveal**

**K.Weaver:** lunch today? I miss you!

**T.Virtue:** Ugh I know. We’re stupid busy. I can’t go for a full hour, walk to Corner Bakery and get some soup to go?

**K.Weaver:** sure! fifteen minutes?

**T.Virtue:** Perfect. I’ll meet you up front.

 

It’s trying to snow outside, but instead of flakes the sky is spitting tiny pellets of ice that the wind is blowing sideways and it stings. Tessa and Kaitlyn make conversation through chattering teeth and clenched jaws.

“So nothing new on the Scott front?” Kaitlyn asks, because she is nothing if not to the point.

“Not really, no,” Tessa says, and tries not to feel like she’s lying. It’s technically true, there is no change in their status.

“But you guys are so cute together!” Kaitlyn mumbles while shivering. “Seriously, Tessa. You’re killing me.”

“You need a new hobby,” Tessa mumbles back as they step inside. “Ahhhhhh. It’s so warm.”

“So Andrew tells me you guys are gonna be working your asses off for the next two months,” Kaitlyn says as they’re waiting for their food.

“We are. It’s kind of bullshit,” Tessa confirms. “Speaking of new things, what’s going on with you and Andrew?”

“Nothing,” Kaitlyn says, in a tone that definitely means Something. Tessa raises her eyebrows. “It’s...just a thing. Not really even a thing.”

“It sounds like it’s totally a thing,” Tessa teases her. 

“We might have maybe hooked up after the Christmas party,” Kaitlyn says in a rush.

“Kaitlyn!” Tessa exclaims, a little too loudly. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because it’s been really open ended!” Kaitlyn says, her cheeks flushing. “I mean, I’ve been thinking about what you’ve been saying, about what happens if it goes bad and I’d still have to work with him, and I’m not really sure what’s going on, so…” she shrugs. “Surprise?”

Tessa shakes her head. “Do you like him?”

Kaitlyn laughs. “Oh my god, Tessa, you know I do.”

“I know,” Tessa agrees. “You should talk to him about it.”

“Do I have to do that?” Kaitlyn asks. “I’d really rather just not say anything until it blows up in my face and then I can deal with it afterwards.”

Their names are called to collect their food, and they stand up. “That’s one way to do it, but I’d rather not have to supply you with ice cream and musicals for a month after it blows up in your face,” Tessa says.

“Ugh. Why is the adult thing to do always the hardest and most unpleasant?” Kaitlyn asks as they make their way back to the door.

“It builds character,” Tessa replies, and they charge back out into the snow.

 

**The Realization**

It’s the third week in a row that they’ve managed to go dancing at the Merc, and the other regulars are starting to recognize them. They’ve been cornered twice more by people telling them what a good couple they make. Part of Tessa just wants to run screaming into the night when it happens.

The other part of her is weirdly satisfied. She knows it’s her ego talking, but it’s nice to feel like, if they  _ were _ a couple, they’d be a good one. 

But they’re not. Scott has started talking about getting on a dating app, see who’s out there. Outwardly, Tessa is supportive. She’s sent him a couple of nice pics that she’s taken of him, offered to help him write up a profile blurb. He’s a good person and deserves to be happy.

Inwardly, though, she’s kind of hoping nothing comes of it. Well, maybe not  _ nothing _ . Just nothing that’s going to interfere with their Friday night tradition.

Still, maybe he’s got the right idea. Maybe she should get out there herself. If she’s not going to date anyone she works with, she’d better start meeting people she doesn’t work with.

In any case it’ll have to wait until after April. There’s no way she can juggle 60 hour work weeks AND dating. Neither can Scott, from what he’s said, which makes Tessa feel both triumphant and guilty.

“That was a mean foxtrot,” Scott says to her when they get out of the car at her building. “You look great, too.” 

“Thank you,” she says. She’d worn a beaded flapper-style dress for the Roaring 20’s theme, and Scott had done his best. “You look good, too. I love the bow tie and suspenders.”

He shrugs. “It’s just what they had at H&M,” he says. “Bring it in.”

They hug, but somewhere in the middle of hugging something shifts, and Tessa feels herself pressing closer to Scott than she usually does. Her arms are tight around his neck, and his are around her waist, and she can feel his hands running up and down her back through her jacket, and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes, and it’s the opposite of what she should be doing but it feels so  _ right. _ She should be doing this with him, no one else.

“I should probably go,” he murmurs to her, and she nods, but neither of them let go. Instead Tessa draws her head back and brings her lips just up to Scott’s, and he closes the gap, and they’re kissing.

They don’t move their heads for a moment, just let their lips brush together, getting a feel for it, and then Scott tilts his head and leans into her and oh god she’s having an out-of-body experience. She lets her fingers brush up into his hair, and he makes a small noise in the back of his throat and kisses her harder, gently nipping her top lip, and she opens her mouth just a bit to let her tongue brush against his.

Scott pulls back with a gasp, rests his forehead against hers with his eyes closed. “Um,” he starts, and the driver chooses that moment to honk at them. “I guess I have to go.”

“Yeah, get home safe,” Tessa says weakly. “I’ll see you Monday.”

“I’ll see you Monday,” he says back to her, and finally pulls back and walks away.

It takes an hour for Tessa’s heart to stop racing, and she doesn’t fall asleep until almost 3.


	5. March

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So how long have you guys been dating?” Emily asks, and Tessa freezes.
> 
> “Oh, uh…” Scott sputters beside her. “We’re not dating.”
> 
> “Yeah, no, we’re not dating,” Tessa repeats. “We just, ah, we’re just close friends.” She can’t be sure, but it looks like Chiddy is trying to hold back laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa nelly. It was only a kiss, how did it end up like this?

**The Aftermath**

Monday morning starts out like any other weekday morning - Tessa’s alarm goes off at 6am, and she promptly snoozes it and pulls the covers up around her. And then...she remembers.

She’s spent the entire weekend overthinking every possible detail of Friday night, turned it inside out and upside down, and she still for the life of her can’t figure out who kissed who. Technically Scott was the one to lean in, but he wouldn’t have if she hadn't put her face directly in front of his. But she wouldn’t have done that if he wasn’t running his hands up and down her back. Although he probably wouldn’t have done that if she hadn’t been holding onto him like he was a life preserver…

This would honestly be easier on her if she knew who to be mad at. At least then she could come up with a way to make sure it never happened again.

She’d thought about texting him, talking it out over the weekend, but had no idea how to even start that conversation.

“Can we please just pretend that we didn’t do that?”

“We never kissed. That was an illusion. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

“About that kiss, I liked it but it must never happen again.”

And she had definitely liked that kiss. Two days later she was still trying to get rid of the floaty feeling in her stomach. It’s still there as she slowly pries herself out of bed, turns off her alarm, and stumbles to the bathroom.

Her mind drifts off as she’s brushing her teeth, and she finds herself replaying the moment over again, remembering how he’d pulled her in after their lips met, what his hair felt like through her fingers. She spits and looks at her stomach in the mirror.

“None of that,” she scolds her stomach’s reflection. “We are not allowed to do that.”

Evidently her stomach takes orders, because on the walk to work the floaty feeling slowly dissolves into a dreadful heaviness. She's going to see Scott in less than 20 minutes and she has no clue how she's supposed to behave.

 _You’re fine. Today is just like any other day. You’re going to go upstairs and say good morning to your project manager that you definitely did not kiss goodnight two days ago._ “Good morning, Al!” Tessa greets the doorman as she breezes past him to the elevator. _That was good. See? Just a normal morning._

She steels herself with everything she’s got as she walks around the corner, only to see an empty space where Scott’s head should be visible over his monitors. Her entire body floods with a paradoxical combination of relief and disappointment.

His things are at his desk, but he’s nowhere in sight, and she doesn’t hear his voice, either...maybe he’s in a meeting? Tessa sets her things down and settles into her chair, logs into her machine and put on her headphones.

Ten minutes and two emails later a Starbucks cup appears next to her. Tessa turns around quickly, but Scott is already getting seated back at his desk. She turns back to the coffee; it’s a venti. The man does seem to know the way to her heart.

Before she can decide how to respond to the gesture, or even what it means, her phone buzzes.

_I’m sorry about Friday night. Got a little carried away. Peace offering?_

His missive gives her pangs of guilt, and now she’s officially run the entire gamut of emotions before breakfast. She’s the one who let her feelings get the best of her, and he’s the one apologizing?

Quickly she types out a reply. _No need to apologize, I got carried away too. Thanks for the coffee!_

She waits a moment for him to read the text, then looks over her shoulder at him. He turns his head and meets her gaze with a small but warm smile, and she smiles back.

_No problem, kiddo. I’d hate to lose my favorite dance partner._

Kiddo. She’s not sure she likes that.

Mondays are always hectic, and Tessa has never been so grateful for that fact. It’s keeping her mind off the internal debate she keeps having over whether or not she’s upset that Scott regrets kissing her. She knows she shouldn’t be; now if she could just smother the little voice that won’t stop telling her to do it again.

She’s in the kitchen trying to retrieve the last glass from the very back of the tallest cupboard _(Why do people load the dishwasher but not start it?)_ when an arm reaches over her and grabs it from in front of her fingertips. Tessa turns around and Scott is standing _right there_ holding it out for her.

“Um. Thanks.” She takes it from him without making eye contact and quickly moves to fill it with water from the cooler.

“Tess.” His voice is quiet and unbearably gentle. “I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me.”

It takes every ounce of resolve she has not to just bolt past him out of the kitchen as fast as her sensible heels will take her. “Scott, please,” she says, her voice strangled, “I can’t...I can’t do this here.” Her eyes finally lift to meet his. “I don’t hate you,” she tells him, soft but firm. “I promise. It was just a mistake, that’s all.”

His expression shifts to one she can’t read. “Yeah,” he says. “Shouldn’t have happened.”

His words hit her like a punch in the gut, a jab at a bruise she didn’t know she had. Before she can formulate a response, the sound of cheerful whistling interrupts the moment and Chiddy comes walking around the corner.

“Hey guys,” he says, grabbing a granola bar out of the snack cupboard. “Are we still having that whiteboard session for the favorites list?”

“Yes, totally, I was just getting some water,” Tessa says, and books it out of the kitchen.

At four o’clock she’s back at her desk. Scott has sent her a total of 3 IMs, all work related, no music. She’s trying to find a song that seems upbeat and not at all romantic when she hears him stand up and grab his things.

She turns around and looks at him in surprise, and he gives her an apologetic look. “I’ve got an appointment for a haircut,” he says. “See you tomorrow?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she replies. “Don’t cut too much off, you look good with longer hair.”

Internally she’s cringing at her choice of words, but he grins. “No buzz cut. Got it.” And then he’s gone.

 

**The Late Night (part 2)**

**S.Moir:** <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM>

**T.Virtue:** Really?

 **S.Moir:** just trying to get you pumped for working late tonight

 **S.Moir:** what would you prefer?

 **T.Virtue:** <https://youtu.be/VBmMU_iwe6U>

**S.Moir:** noted

 **S.Moir:** also we’re getting pizza tonight. doug told me i could expense it.

 **T.Virtue:** Can you pick up some Red Bull, too? Andrew and Chiddy need their energy drinks.

 **S.Moir:** done and done

 **S.Moir:** <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXtlWmBM-HU>

**T.Virtue:** You think you’re so cute.

 **S.Moir:** i really do.

 

Logic would dictate that everything is exactly as it should be. She told him she can’t date him, and he’s respecting her wishes. Thus, they are friends, and as such should not be indulging in displays of romantic affection. The kiss was a transgression, of course he would regret violating the rules in place. He shouldn’t be thinking of her _like that._

But telling herself that he doesn’t think of her _like that_ makes her sick to her stomach. So does the thought of him dating anyone who isn’t her. It’s a miserable dilemma and Tessa doesn’t know what to do about it.

They’re all sitting in a conference room, pizza boxes on the table and cans of soda and Red Bull everywhere. “Hey Tessa,” Andrew asks, “are you still working on the business logic for the profiles?”

“Uh, I’m done with that, but it still needs a review,” Tessa says. “If you can approve that it’s all yours.”

Scott’s at the other end of the table. He’s been keeping a physical distance between them for the last several days. Their last Friday night was shorter than usual, and he didn’t get out of the car to walk her to the door. Tessa hates it, but she can’t blame him - every time he closes the gap a little, she shuts down, and there’s no way she can tell him why. _Hey, sorry I flinch every time you’re even a little bit close, I just don’t trust myself not to make out with you again._  

The long days are getting harder to bear, and that’s not even counting how much time it means she has to spend around Scott. They’ve got less than two months to go before code freeze, and she’s starting to seriously wonder if they’re going to make it.

It’s almost 11 by the time they call it a night. She and Scott bid Andrew and Chiddy farewell and start the trek home, and it’s below freezing outside. Tessa’s trying her best not to shiver, but even her wool coat isn’t keeping the chill out.

They’ve only gone two blocks before Scott takes off his parka and wraps it around her shoulders. “No, you don’t have to do that,” Tessa protests. “You need this, it’s too cold out!”

“I’ve got a fleece on, it’s warm enough,” Scott says. “I thought you were from the frozen north!”

“I guess my time south of the border is making me soft,” she says, and he laughs.

“No way, you’re the toughest person I know,” he says. “That’s how I know it’s cold.”

The affection in his voice warms her more than his coat does.

 

**The St. Patrick’s Day Outing**

Tonight is a bad idea. Like, a really, _really_ bad idea.

It’s all Kaitlyn’s fault. “St. Patrick’s Day is on a Saturday this year, we have to take advantage of that!” she’d said during lunch on Wednesday. “No stumbling into the office the next day with hangovers!”

Naturally, the rest of the team jumped on board, and despite Tessa’s best attempts to excuse herself (“What if you all get arrested and need someone to bail you out?”), she has not been able to come up with a convincing enough reason that doesn’t require she tell Kaitlyn everything that’s happened with Scott.

The good news is that she already owns a lot of green clothes, so when Kaitlyn shows up at her place with a shirt for her Tessa is able to firmly shoot her down.

“Do I look like the kind of person who would wear a t-shirt that says ‘Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced’?” Tessa asks her.

“No, but it was worth a shot,” Kaitlyn says. “Is Scott coming?”

Her stomach twists. She ignores it. “How would I know if Scott’s coming?” she asks. Kaitlyn is unimpressed. Also, it’s a lie - they definitely talked about it last night while they were swing dancing, and Scott is definitely coming. “I haven’t heard from him today. He told me to text him when I knew where we were going.”

“Was that so hard?” Kaitlyn says, rifling through the tops hanging in Tessa’s closet. “Here. wear this.”

 _This_ is an emerald green brocade corset-style top that Tessa had bought on a whim at the Renaissance Festival last summer. It’s gorgeous, and brings out the color of her eyes. It’s also strapless. “Kaitlyn, why do you want me to die of exposure?”

“Oh, hush. It’s supposed to be like 40 degrees tonight.” She turns back to the closet and grabs a white button-down shirt. “Here, put this over it. We’re going to be packed into whatever bar we go to, you’ll be plenty warm.”

Tessa rolls her eyes and grabs a pair of jeans to go with the top. At least if she’s freezing she’ll have an excuse to leave.

Kaitlyn wasn’t lying - when they finally get outside, it looks like the entire metro area has converged on downtown. It’s a sea of green clothes and drunken revelers, and they cross the street behind a group of girls who keep jumping and clicking their heels together. People are spilling out of every bar and restaurant they pass. It’s Tessa’s worst nightmare.

“Andrew’s already at Scruffy Murphy’s with Chiddy and Emily,” Kaitlyn tells her, reading texts off her phone. “He told Scott, he’ll meet us there.”

Scruffy Murphy’s is so full of people that Tessa’s not sure how they’re even going to get in the door, but Kaitlyn grabs her hand and somehow manages to thread her way through the crowd. They squeeze into the side room, where a guitar player is on a small stage playing “Only the Good Die Young”, and join Andrew, Chiddy and Emily.

While they’re greeting everyone Tessa sees Andrew pull Kaitlyn into a hug, and kiss the top of her head, and it clicks. Actually, a couple of things click. First, tonight is the night everyone finds out about Kaitlyn and Andrew and their “thing”. Second, their group is going to consist of three couples - and her and Scott.

“Annette and Chris are on their way, they’re just waiting on their ride,” Chiddy tells them when the song ends and they can all hear again. “And Scott should be - oh, there he is.”

Tessa’s heart speeds up, and she turns to see Scott weaving around clumps of people to get to them. He sees her and waves, and she waves back, and then he’s standing _right next to her_ but she can’t step away because there’s nowhere to go. The guitar player starts up again with “Brown Eyed Girl”, and the whole bar gets about five times louder.

“I think you guys picked the busiest bar in Denver,” he yells over the music. He’s wearing a green t-shirt that says “Let’s get drunk and make bad decisions”. It looks unfortunately good on him. “I’m gonna go get a drink, does anyone else need one?”

“Just a beer,” Tessa yells back. She hates beer but she’s not about to start drinking hard liquor at 3pm. “I don’t care what kind. And a water?”

“Sure thing,” Scott hollers. “Kaitlyn?”

“Andrew got mine,” Kaitlyn shouts, and Scott nods and disappears into the crowd.

Annette and Chris arrive a few minutes later, and shortly after that Scott comes back with their drinks. He hands Tessa her water and a giant can of PBR, and she immediately regrets asking for beer.

Despite Scott being millimeters away from her, and occasionally bumping into her when someone pushes past him, it’s not as tense as she thought it would be. Everyone is dancing and singing along with the music, and by the time she’s done with her second giant PBR Tessa has a nice buzz going. Having Scott next to her feels nice, comfortable even. They’re talking and laughing with everyone else, she’s feeling relaxed and a little giddy, and when he puts his hand on her lower back it doesn’t startle her too much.

He leans in so his face is next to hers. “You doing all right? Need another beer?”

Tessa shakes her head. “I need to go outside and get some air,” she says, and Scott nods.

“We’re gonna go outside for a bit,” he yells to the group. “Anyone want to come with?”

Chiddy and Emily signal their agreement, and Scott grabs Tessa’s hand and guides her through the mass of people. They finally burst through the door and gather out of the way of foot traffic by the curb. The sun is starting to go down, and it’s a little chilly out, but it feels marvelous after the stifling crush of the bar.

“So how long have you guys been dating?” Emily asks, and Tessa freezes.

“Oh, uh…” Scott sputters beside her. “We’re not dating.”

“Yeah, no, we’re not dating,” Tessa repeats. “We just, ah, we’re just close friends.” She can’t be sure, but it looks like Chiddy is trying to hold back laughter.

“Oh,” Emily says, confused. “Sorry, I just assumed. He never tells me anything.” She wraps her arms around Chiddy’s waist and he puts one around her shoulders, kissing the side of her head.

“I would definitely tell you if they were dating,” he says to Emily. “Speaking of which,” he continues, addressing Scott this time, “How’s the dating app thing going?”

“It’s not,” Scott replies, visibly uncomfortable. “I don’t have time for that right now. I’m just going to wait a couple of months, when we’re done with this big push.”

Tessa starts talking before she even realizes what she’s saying. “I mean, you don’t _have_ to stay late all the time,” she says, and Scott raises an eyebrow. “I think it would be good for you to get out there.”

“Hey, keeping team morale up is a big job,” he says. “Unless you guys don’t want me there.”

“I didn’t say we don’t want you there,” Tessa shoots back crisply. “Just, you don’t have to stay late if you don’t want to.”

“We’re gonna go back inside,” Chiddy says, clearly sensing that they’re not actually talking about working late, and he and Emily hurry back into the bar.

“Of course I want to stay,” Scott says. “I’m not about to ask you guys to do anything I wouldn’t do myself.”

“That’s not the same thing,” Tessa argues. “I’m just saying that if you have other things to do, you’re not impeding progress if you leave early to go on a date.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want to go on a date,” Scott snaps, and Tessa doesn’t have a response for that. He sighs. “I’m going back in, you coming?”

She follows him back to their friends, still trying to figure out what he meant by that, and is greeted with a plastic shot glass. “We were waiting for you to get back to do shots!” Kaitlyn says, and Tessa groans.

“What kind of shots?” she asks, warily eyeing the cup full of amber liquid.

“Fireball,” Andrew says apologetically. “Sorry, Kaitlyn got to the bar before me.”

“Ewwww,” Tessa wrinkles her nose. “Are you really going to make me drink this?”

“Yes, and then you can pick the next round!” Kaitlyn smiles at her.

“There’s not going to be a next round,” Tessa says, but she clinks her plastic cup with everyone else’s and downs the shot.

“Ugh,” Scott groans. “That was disgusting.” He collects all the cups and sets off for a trash can.

“Why aren’t you dating?” Emily asks while he’s gone. “You guys would be such a cute couple!”

“That’s what I’ve been telling her for months,” Kaitlyn cuts in. “I don’t get it either.”

“Because we work together!” Tessa exclaims. “That is the worst idea in the world!”

“I don’t know, Tessa,” Chiddy says. “I think you’d be able to keep it professional.”

“Does everybody have an opinion on this?” she asks incredulously, and just then Scott comes back.

“I got you another beer,” he says, and Tessa can feel the smirks on everyone.

She’s been trying to keep a consistent level of tipsy, but after a couple of hours and two more rounds of shots, Tessa is definitely _just_ this side of drunk. Chiddy and Annette and their respective significant others have called it a night, and it’s just Tessa, Scott, and Andrew and Kaitlyn. Although it might as well be just her and Scott, since Andrew and Kaitlyn aren’t paying attention to anyone but each other at this point.

“Have they always been together?” Scott asks her, watching them kiss in a corner.

“No, it’s a recent development,” Tessa sighs. Then - “Oh!”

Someone bumps into her from behind, and Tessa feels a splash of liquid against her arm. She spins around to see that someone’s spilled half their beer on her.

“Sorry, sorry!” the guy says, swiping uselessly at her sleeve with a tiny cocktail napkin. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

“I’m okay, don’t worry about it,” she says, shrugging off the shirt. “It’ll wash out. I hope.”

The guy moves on after a final “sorry” and Tessa ties the shirt around her waist. She looks up to see Scott staring at her. “What?”

“Are you sure you’re okay? He ran into you pretty hard,” he says, concerned.

“Did he? It didn’t feel like it. I’m fine.”

“Good,” Scott says. “You look really pretty in that color. Makes your eyes look really green.”

Sober Tessa would accept the compliment, say thank you, and change the subject. Overly Tipsy Tessa is having none of that tonight. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?” he asks, looking puzzled.

“Compliment me like that. Say things that make it sound like you’re interested in me when we’re supposed to just be friends.” Her voice is starting to rise, but she doesn’t care. “For the last two weeks, you’ve been acting like you can barely stand to be around me, and then tonight you’re all ‘Can I get you another drink, Tessa?’ ‘You look really pretty, Tessa’ and I don’t understand it!”

“ _I’ve_ been acting like I can’t stand to be around you?” Scott fires back. “You won’t even look me in the eye anymore! You kiss me, tell me it was a mistake-”

“ _I_ kissed _you?!_ ” Tessa asks indignantly. “I’m sorry, you’re the one who kissed _me!_ And then you tell me it shouldn’t have happened! And now you’re flirting with me-”

“Hey, guys!” Kaitlyn’s voice rings out from behind her. “What are you two doing over here?”

Kaitlyn is trying to sound suggestive, and it only makes Tessa angrier. “We’re not doing anything,” she says flatly. “Actually, I was just leaving. I’ll see you guys Monday.”

She storms out of the bar before Kaitlyn can try to rope her back in. It’s freezing out, but Tessa just wants to get as far away from Scott as she can right now, so she starts walking in the direction of her building.

“Tessa!” She hears Scott’s voice calling out to her. She ignores him. “Tessa! Tess!”

She wraps her arms around herself and speeds up her pace, but a moment later Scott jogs up next to her. “Tess. I’m sorry. Can we talk? Without yelling at each other?”

She stops walking and looks at him. He’s still breathing hard from running to catch up with her, and remorse is written clearly across his face. She nods, wordlessly, and he breathes a sigh of relief. “I’ll get us a car. C’mere, you’re freezing.”

“Am not,” she mumbles through chattering teeth, but she lets him gather her into his arms.

 

**The Talk**

They get a ride back to Scott’s place, and he hurries her upstairs. “We’ve got to get you warmed up.”

His place is nicely furnished, but still screams _bachelor_ \- there are still a few unpacked boxes in the living room, and a framed Leafs jersey is the only art on the walls. Scott walks over to the couch and shakes out a fleece blanket. “Here, you can use this. Do you want some coffee?”

“Yes, please,” she says, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders and settling on the couch while Scott busies himself with the coffee maker. It feels strange to be in his apartment, even though she’s barely two blocks from her own. Her eyes move from the jackets over the back of the chair, to the potted cactus on the table, to the hockey sticks in the corner. “Did you ever find a league to play with?”

“Nah, I’m just doing weekend pickup games,” he replies from the kitchen. “Sugar? Creamer?”

“Both,” she says, and a moment later Scott reappears with two mugs.

He hands her one and sits next to her on the couch. “So. You’re upset with me.”

Tessa winces and takes a sip of her coffee, stares into the mug. “I’m sorry I snapped at you like that,” she says. “I’m just...confused.”

“You and me both,” he says with a wry smile.

She takes a deep breath and continues. “I guess I’m more upset with myself than I am with you, because I’m the one who said I couldn’t date you, but…” she lifts her eyes to meet his. “I like you. A lot. And...I don’t really know how to deal with it.”

Scott lets out a strangled, sort of breathless laugh. “Wow. Okay. Well...I like you a lot, and I’ve been trying to deal with it, because you’re right. Dating you would be tricky.” Tessa’s heart sinks, but he continues. “I could deal with tricky, though.”

“What do you mean?” she asks cautiously.

He sets his mug down. “I mean...we take it slow,” he says. “Feel it out as we go. And if for whatever reason it doesn’t work out, and you can’t stand working with me anymore, I’ll move back to Toronto.” She starts to protest, but he rapidly amends his statement. “Or I’ll just get another job here, or whatever - I’ll be the one to leave, not you. You were there first,” he says with an adorable half smile.

“You’d be willing to agree to that just for a chance to date me?” Tessa asks in disbelief. “I’m not that great.”

“Oh my god, Tess, do you actually think that?” he blurts out. “You’re funny, you’re scary smart, you’re one _hell_ of a dancer-”

“Can I kiss you?” she interrupts him.

He blinks at her a few times, processing what she’s said, and starts nodding before his mouth starts moving again. “Yes. You can. Please do that.”

Tessa sets her mug down on the table and shrugs off the blanket, leans into him. He brings a hand up to cup her cheek as she presses her lips to his, softly at first, then harder. She makes a small, needy noise and surges forward, his arms wrapping around her waist, hers folding around his neck as she pulls herself into his lap. The kiss deepens and he tastes like coffee, smells like soap and spice and warmth.

Tessa tugs at the bottom of his shirt and slides her hands under it to run them up his chest, and he gasps and breaks away from the kiss. “Tess...that’s not exactly taking it slow.”

“I know,” she says, taking the opportunity to pull his shirt up and relieve him of it entirely. “I don’t really care.”

He laughs. “Are you sober right now?”

“Sure am.” She runs her hands up his chest, delights in the shudder it causes.

“Well then,” he says, leaning back into her, “You take the lead.”

She does.

 

**The Morning After**

Tessa wakes up with a start. That...is not her ceiling.

She looks over to see Scott sleeping next to her, face pressed against his pillow, brow furrowed just slightly. The light coming through the window is still dim, weak very-early morning light; she must only have been asleep for a few hours.

Tessa adjusts the blanket around her, and Scott stirs, puts an arm around her to pull her close. She lets him draw her into the curve his body makes, smiles as he tucks his face into the small of her neck.

She’s exhausted. She’s terrified. She’s never been happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there's no smut, but they were up until like 3am at least. 
> 
> Yell at me on Tumblr, @beautimous, OR now you can yell at me on Twitter @MissSixFics!


	6. April

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which reality ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've hit the end of this particular storyline, and I just wanted to say that I am overwhelmed at the reaction this fic has gotten! No lie, when I published that first chapter I did not expect it to get that much attention, and I am so grateful to each and every one of you who has read and commented and left kudos, especially those of you who took a gamble on an AU!
> 
> And no, I am not done with this universe, I don't think. There's absolutely room for some smaller installments, and I'd love to put together something from Scott's POV.

**The Toothbrush**

“Tess. Wake up, T.”

“Hmmmnnngh.” Tessa rolls over and buries her face in the pillow. As much as she loves waking up next to Scott, she could still do without the actual waking up part.

“C’mon, Tess, you’ve hit snooze three times already. You have to get up, we’ve got that 8 o’clock with Manny.” Scott plants a kiss on the back of her head and buries his face in the side of her neck. “I mean, I don’t think you _need_ to be there, but…”

“No, I’m awake,” Tessa mumbles into the pillow. She rolls over so she’s nose to nose with Scott. “Mmm. Let’s just cancel today. The whole day.”

He smiles. “I wish we could. Then I could make you breakfast.”

“You’re not making this getting out of bed thing any easier, you know.” She kisses him, morning breath and all, and throws the covers back to start getting ready for work.

It’s been two weeks since they decided to ‘take it slow’, and in those two weeks Tessa has spent exactly three nights alone. All three of those nights were because Tessa feels guilty that they are not, in fact, taking it slow. All three of the nights following those nights were spent together because Tessa is starting to very much enjoy being pressed up against him in bed.

She pulls her things out of her bag, and takes her toothbrush to the sink, where Scott is already brushing his teeth. He makes faces at her to make her giggle with a mouthful of toothpaste and then spits.

“You could keep a toothbrush here, you know,” he says. “I’ve got an extra one.”

Tessa is glad she’s still brushing her teeth, it gives her a minute to process while she finishes up. “Are you sure?” she asks. “That’s not...weird?”

He gives her a look that says he has no idea what she means. “No. Why would it be weird?”

“I mean, we’ve only been dating for like two weeks,” she says. “It’s okay if I leave stuff here?”

“Yes, Tess, of course,” he says, laughing. “What, you think I’m bringing other girls back here?”

“No,” she says, because that hadn’t even occurred to her. “That just seems like a big step, that’s all.”

“You live two blocks from me, we don’t go an entire day without seeing each other, and you have an overnight bag that you bring over every time you sleep here,” Scott says, turning on the shower. “I don’t think steps really apply anymore. I just wanted to make things easier for you, that’s all.”

“Oh.” Tessa steps in front of him and pulls him in for a kiss. “That’s really sweet. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he says, and kisses her again, then smacks her ass. “Now get in that shower so we can get to work on time.”

“So unprofessional, Mr. Moir,” she laughs, then gives him an abbreviated striptease as she takes off her tank top and underwear.

That may have been a poor decision given that they’re already running late, but they’re only ten minutes late to their meeting.

 

**The Cover-Up**

Scott types differently when he’s writing her on messenger.

It took Tessa a while to put it together; at first, she didn’t know how she always managed to open his chat window just as he was writing to her. Maybe they were just on the same wavelength, or something. After about four months of that, though, she’s realized it was a Pavlovian response to the particular cadence and volume that Scott Moir types at when he’s messaging her, and only her.

She’s tested her theory, of course. It holds up.

 

 **S.Moir:** how’s TRP-383 coming along?

 **T.Virtue:** It’s like 75% done, I need about 4 more hours.

 **T.Virtue:** Did Andrew and Chiddy update their tasks?

 **S.Moir:** they did, thanks for getting on them about that

 **T.Virtue:** You are welcome.

 **S.Moir:** <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jorJh8DTMVM>

 

Tessa giggles quietly to herself over Scott’s musical response, then checks her phone, where she’s got a new text.

_How was that? Professional enough?_

She grins at her phone, then scolds herself for grinning at her phone. Kaitlyn has already identified her “Scott smile” and can determine when she’s gotten a text from him with 99.8% accuracy. She’s got to be more careful.

_That was very professional, thank you for humoring my paranoia._

They still have not said a word to anyone about it. Tessa knows she’ll have to come clean to a few people, but as much as she knows this isn’t some office fling, she’s still afraid it’ll all fall apart in a few weeks and then she’ll have to inform those people all over again. Just the thought of it makes her stomach twist.

That said, she had toyed with the idea of telling everyone on April 1st, just for maximum chaos.

Scott is being entirely understanding of Tessa’s need for secrecy, hence the “clean” work chat history. Although he may just be taking it out on her in other ways.

_Good, because I came very close to telling you I can’t stop thinking about last night._

Tessa can feel her face growing hot.

_That was VERY unprofessional. Flattering, but unprofessional._

She can feel his smirk from where she’s sitting.

 

**The Late Night (part 3)**

It’s past 11. Chiddy has run out of UX work and gone home, Andrew is wrapping up his last story, and Tessa is deeply regretting volunteering to implement this 3rd party script.

“You should get out of here too,” she sighs to Scott. “I have no idea how much longer this is going to take, and you don’t need to be here.”

“No way, I’m not leaving you in an office building alone in the middle of the night,” he says.

“Scott, I could very well be here for the rest of the night. Go get some sleep, so you don’t come in all grumpy tomorrow,” she tells him.

“I’m not the one who hits the snooze button three times in the morning,” he teases, and immediately realizes what he’s said. He goes pale, tries to amend it with “I’ve heard”, but Tessa is already mid freakout.

“Okay, well, stay if you want to,” she says, in an odd, clipped tone. “Andrew, you can leave as soon as you’re done with that push, I can merge it in for you.”

“Just finished,” Andrew says, and is that relief in his voice? “Are you sure there’s nothing else you need tonight?”

“Nope,” Tessa chirps, still in that weird tone, and Andrew wastes no time in packing up his stuff and getting the hell out of dodge.

She’s gone silent, and she can tell it unnerves him. Good.

“Tess?” he says cautiously, “I’m sorry, it just slipped out.”

She lets out a moan, and slumps forward to put her head in her arms. “It’s not that bad. Andrew’s not a gossip.” Her words are muffled by the conference table. “But he’s definitely going to tell Kaitlyn, who will definitely be pissed at me.”

“I’m sorry,” he says again. “It’s just wearing on me, you know? Having to give vague answers and not refer to any of the time we’ve spent together, which is all the time, for almost a month.”

“I know. I’ve had to make up some story about going to pilates all the time to avoid mentioning any kind of man in my life.” Tessa sits back up. “I just really wanted to wait until at least after we were code complete.”

He looks puzzled. “That...seems arbitrary.”

“Just in case things got heated with this project. I might have to push back, and if everyone knows we’re dating, then you can’t back me up without it seeming like you’re trying to protect your girlfriend.” It’s Tessa’s turn to realize what she’s said, and she actually shrinks down in her seat a little, hoping Scott would gloss right over it.

He does not. “Girlfriend, eh?” he asks, and she does not like the smirk painted across his face. Not one bit. “I mean, I get what you’re saying but I don’t appreciate you making unilateral decisions here, Tessa.” Nor does she like the teasing tone in his voice.

“I’m not,” she protests, but Scott has already transplanted himself to the chair right next to her.

“I’m not saying it wouldn’t be a welcome decision,” he says, and her heart does that awful giddy flutter that she can’t get enough of. “Should we put it to a vote?”

“Yes,” she says, surprising herself, and his face keeps getting closer to hers. “All in favor, say ‘You’.”

He smiles. “You,” he says, and she very much likes this tone of voice.

“You,” she half whispers back, and he leans in and kisses her gently.

He pulls back for just a second. “Are there security cameras in here?” he asks.

Tessa smiles against his lips. “Not in this conference room.”

 

**The Little Things**

“Can you cut those tomatoes into quarters?” Scott asks her, and Tessa gets up to wash and cut the tomatoes.

It’s a Tuesday night, and Scott is making spaghetti and meatballs with homemade marinara. He cooks for her at least a few times a week, and Tessa sits on a counter and watches and talks to him and, sometimes, helps out. Only with prep work - there are about three dishes Tessa would ever claim to be able to cook, and anything else is treated as a potential fire hazard.

“Thanks, baby,” he says, and Tessa melts a little inside.

“Anything for you, darling,” she says, hopping back up on the counter, and wrinkles her nose. “We’re so gross.”

“We are, it’s pretty great,” Scott says with a laugh, then continues working his culinary magic. Tessa watches him work, focusing on the details, trying to be fully present in the moment. She notices how he narrows his eyes when he’s concentrating hard, the way he mouths and sometimes sings song lyrics out loud when he’s lost in the process of making meatballs. He’s in gym shorts and a t-shirt, hair mussed and a little sweaty because he got back from the gym right before he started making dinner.

In other words, he’s perfect. Even when he’s up to his elbows in ground beef.

Scott finishes making the meatballs and washes his hands, then turns to Tessa and puts his arms around her waist. “It’s going to be about 45 minutes to finish all this up,” he says. “Sorry, I didn’t plan this very well. If you’re starving we can snack now.”

Tessa puts her arms around his neck and gives him a tender kiss. “I’m not starving, I can wait. I’m excited to try your world famous spaghetti and meatballs.”

“It’s going to blow your mind,” he says with a perfectly straight face. “And then after dinner, I hope to blow your mind again.”

“Those are some high expectations you’re setting,” she teases him, and he kisses her nose.

“Hey, I’ve managed to keep you interested for over a month,” he says. “I must be doing something right.”

“You’re doing everything right,” Tessa says, and pulls him in so she can tuck her face into the crook of his neck. “Just don’t let it go to your head.”

“Never,” he whispers against her cheek, and Tessa imprints this moment upon her mind, pastes it into her memories for when she needs to be reminded that she can be happy. Because she is. She really, really is.

 

**The Second Most Awkward Conversation Ever**

**K.Weaver:** TESSA

 **T.Virtue:** What?

 **K.Weaver:** don’t you what me, you know exactly what you did!

 **T.Virtue:** brt

 

Tessa hurries over to Kaitlyn’s desk before she can get any more specific. “Look, I know and I’m sorry, I can explain everything at lunch, okay?”

Kaitlyn narrows her eyes. “Sushi?” she asks.

“I’ll buy,” Tessa promises, and Kaitlyn looks appeased. For now.

They’re at Hapa a little after noon, and Kaitlyn is on her as soon as they’re seated. “Talk. When did this start?”

Tessa sighs. “Well, after our girl’s night at the Merc, Scott and I started going dancing as friends-” she starts, but Kaitlyn interrupts her.

“What do you mean, you were going dancing as friends? Those were dates, Tessa. You were going on dates.” Tessa gives her a long-suffering glare. “Sorry. Continue.”

She gives Kaitlyn the whole story over miso soup and a couple of Orgasm rolls. When she’s done, Kaitlyn is quiet for a moment, processing. “Why didn’t you just tell me? You know I’m not gonna go behind your back. You didn’t have to lie about it the whole time.”

“I didn’t lie about it, I just bent the truth a little,” Tessa says, and Kaitlyn raises an eyebrow.

“So you’ve actually been going to pilates six times a week?” and Tessa has to admit she’s got her there.

“Okay, yes, that was a lie. But it’s only been a month since we started seeing each other.”

Kaitlyn rolls her eyes “You mean since you stopped pretending you _weren’t_ seeing each other.”

“Ouch! Okay. I deserve that one,” Tessa concedes.

Kaitlyn smirks. “So you’re not just sleeping with him?”

“No!” Tessa throws her napkin at her.

“I mean, I wouldn’t blame you either way!” Kaitlyn says, laughing and handing back her napkin. “I just can’t believe you navigated all that by yourself!”

“I can’t either,” Tessa says. “I just didn’t want to tell everyone, and then break up and have to tell everyone again. I didn’t want to jinx it.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. If he’s dealt with your neurotic self for the last two months without backup, he’s not going to bail now.” Kaitlyn grins at her. “I’m so happy for you guys!”

Relief floods through Tessa’s body. “I’m really happy too,” she says.

“I can tell,” Kaitlyn says. “I knew something was going on but you guys have been stealth. I mean, you’ve been acting like a couple from the start, so it’s not like that was any different.”

Tessa throws her napkin at her again. “How long can I expect you to make fun of me for?”

“Oh, at least the next three months.”

 

**The First Most Awkward Conversation Ever**

**S.Moir:** you’re on this meeting with ken too?

 **T.Virtue:** Yes, don’t know what that’s about. Do you?

 **S.Moir:** not a clue. he sent this out at 3:17 am?

 **T.Virtue:** Sounds about right.

 

Ken is the only one in the conference room when they walk in, which is even more unusual than getting a meeting invite directly from him.

“Scott, Tessa, thanks for coming,” he greets them as they settle into their chairs. “I wanted to check in with the two of you, get your thoughts on how we’re progressing and whether or not we’re going to meet the deadline.”

Tessa glances at Scott and they share a quick look. “Well,” Tessa starts, “right now I am still optimistic about meeting our deadline. We’ve had to move automated testing to the backlog, but in terms of the site and all the functionality, everything is on track.”

“Excellent! I know you guys have been putting in long hours, and I just want you to know we appreciate all the work that’s gone into this.” Ken shifts a little in his seat, and Tessa is immediately on edge. “There have been some significant changes to the contract we told you about back in February that I wanted to speak to you about personally.”

“What kind of changes?” Scott sounds wary.

“Well, initially we wanted to push the application live at the beginning of July, and our partner would provide advertising campaigns starting with the launch. Rosa has been working closely with them for the last two months, and we’ve discovered that they’re not going to be able to get their campaigns together by July.” Ken pauses for a moment and takes a sip of his coffee. “They’re in the middle of rebranding, so they’ve got to wait until those efforts are complete before they can be included in their advertising.”

“So we’re pushing the launch back?” Tessa asks. “I don’t see how that would affect us, we’d be able to get our automated tests in place and take our time with QA.”

“We are pushing the launch back, but we’ve had some requests for additional functionality to be included. So you would have an extra two months, and we implement their requests.” Ken is watching them closely. Tessa’s not sure what exactly he’s looking for, but she’s pretty sure he doesn’t expect what comes next.

“Ken, I need a moment to talk to Scott. Will you please excuse us? We’ll be back in ten minutes.”

Ken is obviously taken aback, but he nods, and Tessa gets up and walks out of the conference room, Scott close on her heels.

“Tessa, what the hell?” he asks, but she doesn’t respond, just leads him all the way to Doug’s office.

Doug looks up as the two of them walk in, and Tessa closes the door. “Hey guys, what’s up?” he asks.

“Scott and I are dating,” Tessa says bluntly.

Doug says “What?” as Scott says “Tessa!” and she closes her eyes and sighs.

Doug blinks at them for a moment. “Since when?” he asks.

“Last month,” Tessa says, and Doug lifts his eyebrows in surprise.

“That’s it?” he says. “I thought you guys had been together for longer than that.” And both Tessa and Scott shrink a little remembering how completely obvious they’d been without realizing it.

“I mean, I know it’s not a problem with you, and there’s no policy against dating coworkers,” Tessa says quickly. “But we’re not going to be able to keep it under wraps for much longer, and I wanted you to be the first to know, and hear it from us.”

“I appreciate that,” Doug says. “And you know I don’t care unless it becomes a problem.”

“It won’t be,” Scott says, finally finding his voice. “We’ve been working well together for the last six months, and I don’t see that changing.”

“Good,” Doug says. “Now get out of here, I’ve got a call to make.”

“Thank you,” Tessa says, and as they leave Doug catches her eye and winks.

“Tess, _what the hell,_ ” Scott asks her again, and she pulls him into an empty office.

“I’m sorry for springing that on you,” she says quietly. “But Ken is asking us to keep working at three hundred percent for another two months, and trying to hide our relationship is stress that neither of us needs on top of that.” She takes a deep breath in, exhales. “I just had to rip the bandaid off.”

Scott is quiet for a moment, and studies her face with a gentle expression. “Thank you,” he finally says, and Tessa almost cries with relief.

“No, thank _you_ ,” Tessa says, “for letting this be secret for a little while.” She nudges him with her elbow. “Now let’s go duke it out with Ken.”

Surprisingly, Ken is still sitting in the conference room where they left him, replying to texts and emails. He looks up when they walk back in. “Everything okay?”

“Yes,” Tessa says. “Just had to get on the same page. Now let’s talk about this additional functionality.”

With Scott at her side, Tessa feels a confidence she doesn’t usually possess in meetings with their CTO. _It’s nice to know he’s got my back._

 

**The Attempted Slow Leak**

The team is at happy hour, but there’s not much ‘happy’ going on. Today was the meeting in which Ken revealed the timeline changes and additional requests, and Tessa can’t really blame her team for feeling a little burnt out. That’s why she’s expensing their drinks today.

“They really expected us to work the way we have been for another two months, to implement functionality we didn’t agree to?” Chiddy asks, and Tessa nods.

“I told him the whole team would end up quitting if we did that,” she says. “Myself included. We got him to agree to an architectural analysis before committing to anything, and there’s a good chance we’ll scrap half of them. They’re just...ridiculous.”

“Tessa was on fire in that meeting,” Scott says, a hint of admiration in his voice. “She’s really looking out for you guys.”

“We knew that already,” Annette says. “I’m just glad Ken’s listening to you, for once.”

“The possibility of losing your entire team two months before a project launch is pretty good motivation for listening,” Andrew says. He’s standing next to Kaitlyn, who is on a stool with her arms around Andrew’s waist. “That happened at one of my jobs, once. The company almost folded.”

Tessa checks her phone for the time. “It’s 6:30,” she says to Scott. “We should probably get going.”

“Oh, right.” Scott starts gathering up his stuff, and the rest of the team - minus Kaitlyn and Andrew - look at them with curiosity.

“Where are you guys going?” Chiddy asks as Tessa signs her tab.

“Scott and I have dinner plans, so you guys will have to buy your own drinks if you keep going,” Tessa says, and Chiddy and Annette look at each other, then look at Kaitlyn and Andrew.

“Ooh, where are you going?” Kaitlyn asks, and Tessa watches the evolution of Chiddy and Annette’s faces as they realize what’s going on.

“Osteria Marco,” Tessa says. “Scott’s never been.”

“You guys are going to dinner.” Annette sounds shellshocked. “Together. On a date.”

“Mmhmm,” Tessa hums sweetly. "See you guys tomorrow!"

As they’re walking out, Annette is giving Kaitlyn hell for not telling her, and Chiddy is on the phone, and it sounds like he’s talking to Emily and has possibly lost a bet with a very large wager.

“I think that went well,” Scott says when they get outside.

“Couldn’t have gone better,” Tessa says, and she reaches for his hand and laces her fingers between his as they walk down 16th.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
> 
> P.S. The Orgasm Roll is an actual menu item at Hapa Sushi!

**Author's Note:**

> A brief disclaimer: Any resemblance to any companies living or dead is purely coincidental. This is an amalgamation of experiences I've had across several different jobs, with a heaping dash of fiction, because real life is just not that exciting all the time, dammit.
> 
> Yell at me on Tumblr, @beautimous, or on Twitter, @MissSixFics.


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